Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said shale and other formations might be a safe place to dispose of nuclear waste, specifically spent nuclear fuel (SNF) currently being stored at nuclear power plants around the world.

In recent months, the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) has examined shale oil and natural gas potential in southeastern and westerly parts of the state, in addition to the already exploratory drilled northern formations, particularly in the northeast Four Corners area in which the Mancos Shale is found.

With industry, a U.S. senator and North Dakota state officials all focused on robust permitting applications for oil and natural gas development in the Bakken Shale, a new collaboration of federal agencies, the Bakken Federal Executives Group, is the latest attempt to streamline federal processes that are criticized for being too slow.

The U.S. Geologic Survey’s (USGS) assessment of the Williston Basin’s Bakken Shale and Three Forks formation in North Dakota, Montana and South Dakota, which combined was estimated at 7.4 billion bbl of technically recoverable oil, is “very conservative,” according to North Dakota’s chief oil and gas regulator.

President Obama’s $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014, unveiled Wednesday, for the fourth time seeks to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. It also would tack on new fees for operations on federal lands and increase oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said domestic water wells in two Arkansas counties showed no evidence of contamination from oil and natural gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale, but it cautioned that additional testing would be necessary to provide an adequate comparative analysis.

A subsea survey for the fourth time has confirmed the integrity of the Macondo well and the associated relief wells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, BP plc said. The visual inspection by BP and Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, was to see if residual oil remained trapped under wreckage. The sheen is not recoverable and poses no risk to the shoreline, the U.S. Coast Guard said. No conclusive evidence of hydrocarbons leaking was observed from the surveyed area, but a “white, cloudy substance” appeared to emanate from several places on the overturned rig. Samples were collected, and BP plans to review the results with federal officials.

With the introduction of new risk controls, the British government has cleared the way for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to resume in the country where the shale gas reserve could be 4.2 Tcf, according to one estimate.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) officials have hit back at the numbers and types of violations of natural gas pipeline survey and classification work that an investigative unit of the California regulatory commission has leveled against the combination utility.