Spend

Domestic exploration and production (E&P) companies often spend too much money and in turn deplete company value by chasing growth, acreage and reserves when they instead should focus on efficiency, returns and margins, the energy team at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH) said Tuesday.

Houston-based Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. plans to spend a good chunk of its 2011 drilling and operational budget not far from home — in the Eagle Ford Shale play of South Texas. In outlining recent drilling results there the company emphasized that it’s learning as it goes.

Energy regulators must operate independently of both industry and environmental groups, led only by facts and the rule of law, said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Hanger, who leaves office this month after a tenure of more than two years during which activity in the state’s Marcellus Shale mushroomed.

Houston-based Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. plans to spend a good chunk of its 2011 drilling and operational budget not far from home — in the Eagle Ford Shale play of South Texas. In outlining recent drilling results there the company emphasized that it’s learning as it goes.

National Fuel Gas Co.’s exploration subsidiary is adding 42 Bcfe of proved natural gas reserves to its Marcellus Shale holdings in a deal with joint venture (JV) partner EOG Resources Inc.

Rosetta Resources Inc. will spend about 90% of its 2011 capital budget of $360 million on the liquids-rich window of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Houston-based independent said. Spending will be funded from cash flow and planned asset sales in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and California.

Rosetta Resources Inc. will spend about 90% of its 2011 capital budget of $360 million on the liquids-rich window of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Houston-based independent said. Spending will be funded from cash flow and planned asset sales in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and California.

Moving up the ladder to become the second largest acreage holder within the liquids-rich Bakken Shale oil play in North Dakota, Hess Corp. said Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of 167,000 net acres in the region from TRZ Energy LLC for $1.05 billion in cash.

ONEOK Partners LP said it will spend $180 million to $240 million by the first half of 2012 for natural gas liquids (NGL) projects in the Cana-Woodford Shale and Granite Wash plays.