Targeting

A West Virginia city in the Marcellus Shale has enacted a 6% business and occupation (B&O) tax on natural gas companies operating within the city limits, reportedly to raise revenue to fix roads and bridges that could be damaged by drilling there.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. and S.H. Bell Co. are planning a new silica sand storage facility in East Liverpool, OH, to support growing demand from oil and natural gas customers in the Marcellus and Utica shales, the companies said.

Comstock Resources Inc.’s second quarter results took a beating from “extraordinarily low natural gas prices,” but the company continues to shift to oil in a big way and just sealed a joint venture (JV) for its “growth engine” Eagle Ford Shale acreage. Comstock expects good things to come from the Permian Basin and plans to hold on to its Haynesville-Bossier Shale acreage in anticipation of better days for dry gas.

Range Resources Corp. has drilled the first unconventional natural gas well in Crawford County, PA, and is reportedly planning to drill more of them targeting the Utica Shale in the near future.

Oil and gas companies could be showing more interest in drilling wells targeting the Marcellus Shale in Wyoming County, PA, after having hired a seismic contractor to perform tests across nearly half of the county on their behalf.

A horizontal well targeting the Cotton Valley formation in northern Louisiana recently flowed at an initial production rate of 3,019 boe/d over a 24-hour period, according to privately held producer Indigo Minerals LLC.

Terra Energy Corp. said it is targeting international companies — particularly Asian firms — for a possible joint venture (JV) — and it is considering the sale of its natural gas-rich Montney Shale portfolio in British Columbia (BC) as it shifts toward more oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) production.

Tulsa-based midstream company Caballo Energy LLC is targeting the Mississippi Lime of Oklahoma and Kansas, and the Cana Woodford Shale with its acquisition of Eagle Chief Midstream LLC, which owns a gas gathering and processing system in northwestern Oklahoma.

With two new joint ventures in hand, Consol Energy Inc. is gearing up for a big year in Appalachian shale.