Target

The capital markets for U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies “appear wide open,” with most of the available funds likely to target onshore oil instead of natural gas through 2014, Barclays Capital analysts said on Wednesday.

The capital markets for U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies “appear wide open,” with most of the available funds likely to target onshore oil instead of natural gas through 2014, Barclays Capital analysts said on Wednesday.

Private energy equity behemoth Riverstone Holdings LLC has raised $7.7 billion to invest in energy businesses, exceeding its original $6 billion target, the firm said Wednesday.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. said Friday it has dropped a drillbit into its first Utica Shale horizontal target in Ohio’s northern Washington County.

Resolute Energy Corp. said Friday it plans to run with the Wolfcamp pack this year and increase net production by more than 50% over the 2012 level, reflecting, in part, recent acquisitions in Midland and Ector counties, TX.

While agreeing to defer nearly 10,000 acres, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finds itself as the target of strong opposition from local residents as it attempts to conduct an oil and natural gas lease sale in mid-February in central Colorado’s North Fork Valley.

Encana Corp. and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling solutions provider Ferus LNG Inc. plan to build a 190,000 liter per day LNG production facility near Grande Prairie, Alberta (AB). The facility is to be near high levels of energy industry activity in northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia and is expected to be operational by the end of 2013. It would be among the first in Canada designed to produce high-quality LNG fuel specifically for high-horsepower (HHP) engines used in drilling rigs, pressure pumping services and heavy-duty highway and off-road trucks, the partners said. Other HHP applications for the LNG supply include rail, mining, and remote power generation. To support the entire LNG supply chain, Encana and Ferus LNG have also designed and are in the process of building specialized mobile storage and dispensing equipment. Ferus and Encana said they have committed to using LNG for their own fueling needs. In 2011 alone, Encana saved $12 million in fuel costs by using natural gas instead of diesel in drilling rigs and company trucks and is on track to exceed this figure in 2012, the company said (see NGI, March 26). Earlier this year Ferus said it was putting into service the first LNG-powered heavy duty truck in Alberta (see NGI, April 30).

Following the presidential election, a big target is on the backs of oil and gas interests, according to a panel of industry experts.

Following the presidential election, a big target is on the backs of oil and gas interests, according to a panel of industry experts.