Rich

With its oil and liquids-rich play, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota keeps attracting prospective drilling operations even as the formation’s overall rig count has declined slightly since January, according to the state’s latest monthly statistics at the end of August.

Houston-based Sanchez Energy Corp., which holds a 95,000 net acre position in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale, highlighted the performance of recent wells and said they “demonstrate the progress made in substantially derisking the majority of the company’s acreage position in the Eagle Ford Shale trend.”

Continuing its strategy of increasing its acreage in the liquids-rich Bakken Shale and Three Forks Formation, a QEP Resources Inc. subsidiary has entered into two deals with multiple sellers to acquire “significant crude oil development properties” in the Williston Basin for an aggregate purchase price of close to $1.38 billion.

The unconventional oil and gas rig count sagged in the week ending Aug. 17, with numbers flat or declining in 10 of the nation’s 13 unconventional plays compared with the week before, but the liquids-rich Niobrara-Denver Julesburg (DJ) Basin continues to soar, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.

Facing an ongoing challenge of flaring up to almost a third of its associated natural gas supplies in the oil-rich Bakken Shale, North Dakota is considering a proposal to use mobile equipment to turn some of the flared supplies into much-needed fertilizer for the state’s agricultural industry. Another proposal calls for a $1 billion farmer-owned fertilizer plant using natural gas currently being flared.

Facing an ongoing challenge of flaring up to almost a third of its associated natural gas supplies in the oil-rich Bakken Shale, North Dakota is considering a proposal to use mobile equipment to turn some of the flared supplies into much-needed fertilizer for the state’s agricultural industry. Another proposal calls for a $1 billion farmer-owned fertilizer plant using natural gas currently being flared.

Trends that surfaced last year indicate “a continued preference for crude oil and liquids-rich gas development over dry gas options,” and are likely to reduce — and possibly reverse — recent domestic dry gas production growth rates, according to a new report from Pace Global.

Trends that surfaced last year indicate “a continued preference for crude oil and liquids-rich gas development over dry gas options,” and are likely to reduce — and possibly reverse — recent domestic dry gas production growth rates, according to a new report from Pace Global.

EOG Resources’ strategy of the last year to edge away from natural gas exploration and production in order to focus on the more economically viable production of crude oil appears to be paying off as the Houston-based producer posted a 38% increase in second quarter earnings over the previous year’s quarter. The company attributed much of its strong earnings to successful programs on acreage in the South Texas Eagle Ford Shale and North Dakota Bakken Shale.