Solutions

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a group of landowners in Bradford County, PA, who allege the company’s Marcellus Shale drilling operations contaminated their groundwater supplies.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently granted three separate authorizations for the export of domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) to SB Power Solutions Inc. (SPS), Gulf LNG Liquefaction Co. LLC and Southern LNG Co. LLC. Exports are to be allowed to countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement (FTA).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last week granted three separate authorizations for the export of domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) to SB Power Solutions Inc. (SPS), Gulf LNG Liquefaction Co. LLC and Southern LNG Co. LLC. Exports are to be allowed to countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement (FTA).

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which continues to shed assets or secure partners to pare debt, late Monday laid plans to launch its diverse onshore oilfield services unit through an initial public offering (IPO), but the separate company would continue to be closely tied to its main customer, the Oklahoma City-based producer.

Plains All American Pipeline LP’s Plains Gas Solutions experienced a fire Saturday at its Basile gas processing facility near Eunice, LA. One employee was injured and is in stable condition at an area hospital. The cause, extent of the damage and time required to repair the facility are not yet known. The Basile Plant is a 150 MMcf/d cryogenic processing facility. Neither the operation of the Basile Plant nor the fire have any impact on the operations at PAA Natural Gas Storage’s Pine Prairie facility, located nearby, Plains said. Additionally, there is no impact to area gas producers, third-party gas processing facilities or natural gas pipelines.

There’s enough water in the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer in South Texas to support Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing as well as other uses, such as irrigation, according to the Eagle Ford Task Force. This is in spite of a drought that has gripped most of Texas, according to experts.

Lawmakers in North Carolina should consider several health and environmental measures as they weigh the legalization of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in their state, researchers at Duke University said in a new report.

Oilfield services provider Platinum Energy Solutions Inc. filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $300 million of common stock in an initial public offering. The Houston-based company, which specializes in hydraulic fracturing in unconventional oil and natural gas plays, coiled tubing and other pressure pumping services, has operations in Texas and northwestern Louisiana. Platinum’s “quintuplex” pumping units are capable of delivering up to 2,500 hydraulic horsepower with an 80% efficiency, according to the company. Platinum said it has applied to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FRAC.

The abundance of gas coming out of the Marcellus Shale is contributing to a situation on Columbia Gas Transmission that is pinching the pipeline’s storage operations in northern Ohio and creating oversupply on the western portion of its system, according to a recent rate adjustment filing at FERC.