Stoked

Stoked by the San Bruno, CA, gas pipeline explosion in September and the anti-gas drilling film “Gasland” — as well as general not-in-my-backyard sentiment — Jersey City, NJ, officials are set to consider zoning changes intended to block a natural gas pipeline that Spectra Energy Corp. wants to build through their town.

Natural gas drilling is facing pushback in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York from some whose fears of energy development have been stoked by the BP plc well blowout and spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). And worries about hydraulic fracturing (fracing) well stimulation techniques aren’t going away either as a new anti-drilling film on the topic is now playing on big and small screens.

Stoked by high crude oil prices, domestic oil and natural gas drilling activity soared to a two-decade high during the second quarter, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). Most of the drilling was natural gas-focused, with gas activity setting an all-time record pace in the first half of the year, it said.

Stoked by high crude oil prices, domestic oil and natural gas drilling activity soared to a two-decade high during the second quarter, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). Most of the drilling was natural gas-focused, with gas activity setting an all-time record pace in the first half of the year, it said.