Subsidiary

The Houston-based arm of energy giant BP plc Tuesday said it was leasing thousands of acres in a yet-to-be explored area of northeastern Ohio’s Utica/Point Pleasant Shale formation near the Pennsylvania border for future natural gas and oil production.

Days after a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary announced that it intends to purchase a site in Pennsylvania — presumably for its “world-scale” ethane cracker in the Marcellus Shale — media reports are fueling speculation that two other companies are interested in building crackers in West Virginia.

One day after Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. agreed to sell $100 million of convertible preferred units in subsidiary Eureka Hunter Holdings LLC to an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, the producer announced Thursday that $58.5 million of the proceeds would be used by Eureka Hunter to acquire natural gas treating company TransTex Gas Services LP, a privately held company based in Houston.

Days after a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary announced that it intends to purchase a site in Pennsylvania — presumably for its “world-scale” ethane cracker in the Marcellus Shale — media reports are fueling speculation that two companies are interested in building their own crackers in West Virginia, with one possibly making their announcement today, Wednesday.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has agreed with a subsidiary of Carmeuse Holding S.A. (Luxembourg) to acquire its U.S. industrial sands business, Carmeuse Industrial Sands (CIS), for $297 million, giving it a large supply of sand for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has agreed with a subsidiary of Carmeuse Holding S.A. (Luxembourg) to acquire its U.S. industrial sands business, Carmeuse Industrial Sands (CIS), for $297 million, giving it a large supply of sand for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities.

In continuing to increase it’s U.S. presence, Calgary-based Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX), a subsidiary of TMX Group Inc., has added three natural gas hubs in the United States for physical clearing.

Triad Hunter LLC, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., has closed on a $24.8 million acquisition of approximately 15,558 gross (12,186 net) acres in southeastern Ohio’s Utica Shale from an undisclosed seller, the company said Friday.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) said low natural gas prices were forcing its Seneca Resources Corp. subsidiary to scale back capital expenditures (capex) on exploration and production (E&P) for fiscal 2012, which includes dropping two of its six drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale.