Serve

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) will consider 35 applications for water withdrawals, most of them intended to support natural gas drilling, at its next meeting in mid-December.

MarkWest Energy Partners said Wednesday it plans to add 200 MMcf/d of natural gas processing infrastructure this month at its Mobley complex in Wetzel County, WV, to support rich-gas production in the Marcellus Shale by EQT Corp., Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. and others.

Hurricane Sandy appears to have posed a minimal disruption to oil and gas companies operating in the Marcellus Shale.

With oil production booming in the Permian Basin of West Texas, projects are being developed to serve producers wanting to get their oil to Houston. But going west on a converted portion of Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) system could one day be an option, too.

Linde North America has upgraded its carbon dioxide (CO2) plants in Corpus Christi, TX, and Woodward, OK, to better serve the Midcontinent and Eagle Ford Shale regions with expanded CO2 availability. “Linde has brought these plants on stream to supply the surging demand for CO2 in the oil and gas industry,” said Lauren Porambo, CO2 product manager. “The use of CO2 in fracturing completions displaces the use of water, reduces formational damage and enhances well production.” CO2 is injected in a liquid state and converts to a gaseous state down-hole, mitigating formational damage and fluid on formation, while enhancing well clean-up and flow-back, Linde said. Conventional liquid pumps are used, so service companies require no specialized equipment.

Spectra Energy Corp. and BG Group plc are planning a new natural gas transportation system from northeast British Columbia (BC) to serve BG Group’s potential liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Prince Rupert on the province’s northwest coast.

Naturally occurring methane in New York water wells could serve as a baseline to measure the quality of the water supply if and when natural gas drilling is expanded and high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is allowed, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said in a new report. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce any day a decision about whether to allow more gas drilling to proceed.

In a move anticipated by oil and natural gas producers, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) said Monday it was suspending 64 water withdrawal permits due to ongoing drought conditions in the basin, the highest number of suspensions since it began issuing permits in 2008.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed a final environmental review that will serve to support decision-making with respect to oil and natural gas lease sales scheduled in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the next five years.