Spend

Steel manufacturer Nucor Corp. said it will spend more than $700 million during a two-year period on natural gas drilling in order to meet its contractual obligations with Encana Corp. for a supply of low-cost natural gas.

ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. will pay a $100,000 penalty and spend an estimated $20 million on a plan to improve wastewater management practices following a settlement with federal authorities to resolve an alleged violation of the Clean Water Act related to the discharge of hydraulic fracturing wastewater at a Lycoming County, PA, facility.

Driven primarily by the continued success of its drilling program in the Marcellus Shale, Range Resources Corp. saw its production volumes surge to a record high of 910 MMcfe/d in 2Q2013, a 27% increase over 2Q2012, the Forth Worth, TX-based company said Thursday.

New York’s Con Edison said it will spend about $100 million on new natural gas mains, regulators and other upgrades to its system in several neighborhoods in Manhattan and the Bronx, enabling more customers to convert from heating oil. “Our customers are discovering the economic and environmental benefits of switching from heavy fuel oils to natural gas, and we want to do everything we can to make the conversion process easy for them,” said Nick Inga, director of the utility’s gas conversion group. A New York City environmental regulation phases out the use of No. 6 fuel oil by 2015 and No. 4 fuel oil by 2030. The regulation requires building owners to switch to another heating source, such as natural gas. Although the regulation does not require the phasing out of No. 2 fuel oil, hundreds of No. 2 oil-heated buildings have switched as well to natural gas due to economic benefits, Con Edison said.

No place in the entire world has better dry or wet gas potential than the Marcellus Shale, now “four years into a 50-year play,” but ensuring that there’s enough infrastructure for adequate takeaway will take some time, a top Williams executive said last week.

The U.S. unit of Australia’s Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. has raised its 2013 guidance for Eagle Ford Shale well count by 25-30% and said it plans to spend $430-465 million this year on drilling and related infrastructure.

Based on success to date in developing a midstream system in the Utica Shale, The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) said it plans to spend an additional $450 million for its joint venture (JV) with MarkWest Energy Partners LP.

Gulfport Energy Corp. Tuesday reported production results for two more Utica Shale wells and said it plans to have natural gas and liquids flowing to pipelines this spring.

Analysts are keeping an eye on costs and production results from the still-emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), but Amelia Resources LLC is going “100 mph” to market 47,300 net acres in the play, which management believes may hold a resource potential of more than 1 billion bbl.