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California’s Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) is eyeing 7 billion bbl of reserves from the Monterey Shale and other projects in the state, the management team said Tuesday.

During an oversight hearing Wednesday by the House Natural Resources Committee on U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) operations, discussion frequently — and fractiously — turned to regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), with Republicans calling for states-only oversight and Democrats complaining that proposed draft federal rules fall short.

Oilfield services giant Nabors Industries Ltd. on Tuesday warned that operating results for the second quarter will fall below consensus estimates because of a “pronounced” shortfall in the pressure pumping and top drive completion service lines.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) apparently has come to the conclusion that U.S. shale gas is too good a thing to not share with the rest of the world in larger quantities.

Natural gas producers in Pennsylvania have paid most of the $202.7 million owed under the drilling impact fee enacted under Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has asked about 70 municipalities to correct and resubmit a form showing how they spent their share of impact fee revenue from Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

The Bakken Shale, Hess Corp.’s “principal engine of growth.” averaged 65,000 boe/d in the first three months of this year, an increase of 55% from a year ago, the CEO told investors on Wednesday.

Mexico state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has signed a five-year agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. to share technical and scientific information. The agreement renews a previous collaboration agreement between the two companies, said officials. Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December, recently told reporters that Pemex wouldn’t be sold or privatized, but it would be modernized. Pemex, Mexico’s largest company, provides nearly all of its profits to the federal government. Natural gas production in Mexico has risen slightly from a year ago, but it has fallen over the past four years, according to Pemex. In February, gas output was 6.475 Bcf/d, compared with 6.430 Bcf/d a year ago. However, 2012 gas output averaged an estimated 6.385 Bcf/d, versus 6.594 Bcf/d in 2011 and 7.020 Bcf/d in 2010. Mexico also is a net crude oil exporter, but production fell to less than 3 million bbl in 2011 from almost 4 million bbl in 2003-2004.

Carroll County and operators for Chesapeake Energy Corp. continue to hold the lion’s share of permits issued and producing wells in the Utica Shale, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) figures.