Test

Oil and natural gas regulators in Wyoming on Tuesday initiated a rulemaking process for exploration and production (E&P) operators regarding water testing as part of the drilling permit application process.

Under a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International have partnered to explore, test and evaluate a range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation. The MOU is the first agreement in Sandia’s new Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI), an alternative fuel research facility whose goal is to accelerate hydrogen and natural gas infrastructure technologies. The collaboration also will capitalize on research at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility (CRF). CIRI will be located at Sandia’s Livermore Valley Open Campus, adjacent to the CRF.

Halcon Resources Corp. said it has acquired more than 50,000 net acres of leasehold in an Eagle Ford Shale play in East Texas, and plans to eventually triple its presence and invest $100 million there this year.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. intends to drill at least four Utica Shale test wells in Ohio this year, the Houston-based independent exploration and production company said Tuesday.

Authorities in Quebec have been monitoring environmental groups opposed to shale gas development in the province for the last two years on fears that their activities could become radicalized and violent, according to a report by La Presse, a French newspaper in Montreal.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. has nearly completed a vertical test well in New York State’s portion of the Marcellus Shale and will make its next move in the play once geological samples are analyzed and regulatory uncertainty in the state clears.

Louisiana’s Office of Conservation plans to drill an observational water well to test for concentrations of natural gas in the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer between the western side of a troubled salt dome and the Bayou Corne Community in the southern part of the state.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. Wednesday said it plans to test for the first time the potential of the deep Pearsall Shale formation in South Texas after agreeing to pay $2.35 million to buy an additional 1,885 net mineral acres in Atascosa County.

Encana Corp. plans to continue to keep its eye on the “highest-return plays” in North America, which for the near term means more liquids and oil development and no natural gas drilling, CEO Randy Eresman said Wednesday.