Sufficient

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not give sufficient attention to the potential environmental impact from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) when it issued oil/gas leases for 2,500 acres two years ago, a judge in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, in San Jose ruled on Monday.

Oneok Partners LP Thursday launched plans to invest up to $500 million between now and 2015 to build additional natural gas liquids (NGL) infrastructure in some of its Midcontinent operations, with the bulk of the funds earmarked for the Williston Basin.

Range Resources Corp.’s planned five-rig drilling program for 2013 in the Mississippian Lime, which was scheduled to start up early next year, already is under way based on encouraging results from a crop of wells in the Nemaha Ridge area, the company said Thursday.

FERC on Friday approved Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s (Transco) Northeast Supply Link project to provide additional firm transportation service from the Marcellus shale play to meet growing demand for natural gas in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City.

The United States now has an “incredible” opportunity to be energy self-sufficient, John Pinkerton, executive chairman of Range Resources Corp., told an industry audience last week, urging the development of a diverse energy policy using all of the nation’s resources.

The United States now has an “incredible” opportunity to be energy self-sufficient, John Pinkerton, executive chairman of Range Resources Corp., told an industry audience last week, urging the development of a diverse energy policy using all of the nation’s resources.

Gasfrac Energy Services Inc., which has been attempting to muscle into the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) market with its waterless technology, hit some roadblocks in 2Q2012, in part because the pressure pumping market is bursting at the seams, company officials said Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s stock price may have reached its bottom, an energy analyst said Friday. However, things may heat up in the coming days after activist shareholder Carl Icahn revealed late Friday that his firm now owns a 7.6% stake in the company — and he wants four board members replaced.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) on Tuesday downgraded the corporate credit rating of Chesapeake Energy Corp. to “BB-” from “BB” and said the outlook was “negative.” The ratings on related entities Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP and Chesapeake Oilfield Operating LLC also were cut because the units are so closely tied to the parent, S&P noted.