Taken

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week had taken down from its website a list of how impact fee revenue generated by Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law, was distributed to county and municipal governments.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week had taken down from its website a list of how impact fee revenue generated by Act 13, the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, was distributed to county and municipal governments.

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.

The extent of the risks associated with development of shale oil and natural gas is “unknown” because existing studies have not taken into account the potential long-term, cumulative effects of the activity, according to a new report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last Tuesday. The agency in a companion report did not make any recommendations to change environmental and public health requirements in light of advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The extent of the risks associated with development of shale oil and natural gas is “unknown” because existing studies have not taken into account the potential long-term, cumulative effects of the activity, according to a new report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Tuesday. The agency in a companion report did not make any recommendations to change environmental and public health requirements in light of advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

UGI Energy Services Inc. and Capitol Energy Ventures Corp. have taken firm capacity on the proposed Commonwealth Pipeline, making them anchor shippers on the project, which is sponsored by Inergy Midstream LP, UGI Energy and Capitol Energy. The contracts are for 10 years at negotiated rates. Commonwealth would provide a path for bringing gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays to markets in central and southeastern Pennsylvania and the greater Mid-Atlantic region (see Shale Daily, May 8). The proposed interstate pipeline will consist initially of 120 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline extending from the southern terminus of the Inergy Midstream’s MARC I Pipeline in Lycoming County, PA, to several points of interconnection in southeastern Pennsylvania with other interstate pipelines, including NiSource Gas Transmission and Storage, Texas Eastern Transmission Co., Transco Pipeline, and Eastern Shore Natural Gas Co.

Sidewinder Drilling Inc., a privately held upstart that’s been in the unconventional drilling game for a little more than a year, on Tuesday said it had a $242 million definitive offer on the table for Fort Worth, TX-based Union Drilling Inc., which operates across the U.S. onshore.

Gulf Coast petrochemicals maker TPC Group Inc. on Monday agreed to be taken private by First Reserve Corp. and SK Capital Partners in a cash-and-debt transaction valued at $850 million.

FERC Monday said it is holding a technical conference in late September to discuss actions that industry has taken in response to an August 2011 report on the weather-driven power outages and natural gas curtailments in early 2011.