Started

Penn Virginia Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed to explore a portion of the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas with an undisclosed “major oil and gas company.”

After weathering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report late last week, which claimed that the groundwater in Pavillion, WY, contains chemicals that are normally used in natural gas production practices, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Encana Corp., went on offense Monday, noting that many of the EPA’s findings from its recent deep monitoring wells, including those related to any potential connection between fracking and Pavillion groundwater quality, “are conjecture, not factual, and only serve to trigger undue alarm.”

FERC Friday approved Empire Pipeline Inc.’s request to begin service on its Tioga County Extension to transport Marcellus Shale production in Pennsylvania to the U.S.-Canadian border.

Tuesday’s market was largely an extension of the one that started the week: quotes a bit softer at most locations but a few flat to slightly higher points keeping movement mixed overall. Even as restoration efforts get into high gear along the East Coast following Hurricane Irene’s damage, the overall weather outlook is too moderate to be supportive of gas prices.

A West Virginia man suing two energy companies in the Marcellus Shale wants his case returned to circuit court.

The first day of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season started right on cue Wednesday with a small area of low pressure forming off the east coast of Florida, and forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) said they expect that system signals the opening of six months of above-average tropical storm activity.

The first day of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season started right on cue Wednesday with a small area of low pressure forming off the east coast of Florida, and forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) said they expect that system signals the opening of six months of above-average tropical storm activity.

The United States had record natural gas consumption of 24.13 Tcf in 2010, the highest since the Energy Information Administration (EIA) started keeping records in 1973, according to trade data released by the EIA in its March energy review.

Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), announced Wednesday that it has started producing its first shale gas from a test well in Mexico’s portion of the Eagle Ford Shale play.