Surrounding

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) negotiated between state and federal regulators could end the stalemate over the contentious issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a Texas official told a House panel last Wednesday.

There is still too much “scientific uncertainty” surrounding hydraulic fracturing’s (fracking) impact on water supply, and because of this regulators and operators need to be more transparent and accountable, according to a University of California, Berkeley, report that was released last Thursday.

An independent California-based geologist who has studied the Monterey Shale thinks it could eventually fulfill some of the hype surrounding its long-term reserves, but first it is going to take more serious geologic study and some small operators willing to take the risks that the big companies are not going to take.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday added new information surrounding a small hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope. On Tuesday investigators focused on a valve box for a pipeline carrying natural gas liquids (NGL) away from a Williams Co. unit’s gas processing plant.

Maine Natural Gas (MNG), which has seen its plans to build an 80-mile-long natural gas pipeline to the state capital and the surrounding Kennebec Valley hampered by a competitor’s challenge, has signed a 10-year agreement to supply gas to a new regional hospital in Augusta. It’s a deal that could help MNG build the pipeline even if the state isn’t a customer.

A legal battle over a Maine Natural Gas (MNG) proposal to build an 80-mile-long natural gas pipeline to Maine’s state capital and the surrounding Kennebec Valley has taken another turn with a lawsuit filed by MNG, which claims a competitor’s previously successful challenge to the project was filed too late.

Residents of Pittsburgh and the 32-county area surrounding it believe drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is both an economic opportunity for the region and a potential environmental and public health threat, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by PittsburghToday and the staff of the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s stock price jumped on Monday after the company secured a $3 billion term loan and CEO Aubrey McClendon expressed confidence in the company’s ability to complete planned property sales this year to bridge an estimated $10 billion funding gap. In addition, an estimated $1 billion volumetric production payment (VPP) in the Eagle Ford Shale has been sidelined in favor of more noncore asset sales.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) is skeptical of information pipeline operators have submitted to comply with a new state registry, the chairman of the agency told a Pittsburgh audience Friday.