River

Under a new policy by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), operators will be required to sign a lease and make royalty payments to the state for natural gas gathered from wells adjacent to navigable streams, lakes and waterways.

Gov. Bev Perdue issued an executive order on Monday calling on various state agencies to organize a work group to study hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and then make recommendations for the best ways to regulate the practice.

Seventeen separate water withdrawals already approved in Pennsylvania by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) — mostly for natural gas operators — have been temporarily suspended because localized stream flow levels have fallen throughout the basin because of drought conditions, officials said.

A unit of Willbros Group Inc.’s oil and gas business has been awarded a contract by Energy Transfer Partners LP to construct a portion of the Red River Gathering Pipeline (RRG). Work is to include construction of 97 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline from Ardmore, OK to Denton, TX. Construction is scheduled to begin in early April. The project is part of an agreement for Energy Transfer to provide gas gathering, processing and transportation services in the Woodford and Barnett shales for XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp. (see Shale Daily, Oct. 24, 2011). “The significant growth in the midstream market is driving additional opportunities for our strategy to offer comprehensive services to project developments in the liquid-rich drilling plays such as the Woodford shale,” said Willbros CEO Randy Harl.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be done safely “as long as the right protections are in place prior to issuance of any permits for the practice,” according to a draft report from North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

A new natural gas-fueled power plant to be built near Marble Falls, TX, for the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) will be the first combined-cycle plant in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region to meet the latest greenhouse gas regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to GE, turbine provider to the project.

Colorado School of Mines, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) on Thursday launched a shale natural gas and oil training development initiative, which initially would be funded with separate $1 million grants from ExxonMobil Corp. and GE.

Pennsylvania is reportedly planning to resume paying its dues to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2012-2013, but New York wants to continue cutting its contribution to the watershed protection organization.

A judge in New York State has ruled that an ordinance and a zoning requirement enacted last year by the town of Dryden, NY, essentially banning all Marcellus Shale oil and gas activities in the municipality, are not preempted by state law and can remain in effect.