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Coordinated regulation of oil and gas development is needed in Colorado, but no new laws are needed to achieve such an approach, according to a report from a task force created earlier this year by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Coordinated regulation of oil and gas development is needed in Colorado, but no new laws are needed to achieve such an approach, according to a draft report from a task force created earlier this year by Gov. John Hickenlooper. The task force is scheduled to issue its final report to Hickenlooper and state lawmakers Wednesday.

A unit of Willbros Group Inc.’s oil and gas business has been awarded a contract by Energy Transfer Partners LP to construct a portion of the Red River Gathering Pipeline (RRG). Work is to include construction of 97 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline from Ardmore, OK to Denton, TX. Construction is scheduled to begin in early April. The project is part of an agreement for Energy Transfer to provide gas gathering, processing and transportation services in the Woodford and Barnett shales for XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp. (see Shale Daily, Oct. 24, 2011). “The significant growth in the midstream market is driving additional opportunities for our strategy to offer comprehensive services to project developments in the liquid-rich drilling plays such as the Woodford shale,” said Willbros CEO Randy Harl.

Even though northern shale drilling remains in its infancy, the British Columbia cradle of the emerging natural gas source is catching up fast to the traditional mainstay of Canadian supplies.

A recent settlement of a case involving one of the first shale gas wells in the Delaware River Basin will change the way future Marcellus Shale wells are permitted in that region.

The groundwater in Pavillion, WY, contains chemicals that are normally used in natural gas production practices, such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to a draft report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Thursday. An Encana Corp. spokesman contested the EPA findings.

With an overall workplace death rate in his state more than 3.5 times the 2010 national average and a ranking as the worst state for such deaths in five of the past 10 years, Wyoming’s governor is taking to heart a report indicating that almost all of those deaths in the oil and gas sector occurred because safety rules were ignored.

A well used to dispose of fracking-related fluids in the northeastern corner of Ohio is believed to have been responsible for about a dozen minor earthquakes in the town of Youngstown over the past year, with the latest one coming on New Year’s Eve, according to state regulators.

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has filed a $43.7 million general rate increase request with Oregon’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), the first such filing in nearly a decade. If approved, the rate change would mean an increase of about 6%, or an average of $5 monthly, for residential customers and $13 monthly for business customers.