Them

Producers have eschewed dry gas in favor of more lucrative oil and liquids-rich production, and midstream operators are following them. Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) is buying Sunoco Inc. for $5.3 billion in a deal intended give it oil and liquids business and a presence in the Marcellus Shale.

While she joined the majority at FERC last week in voting out a certificate to build facilities to liquefy and export natural gas, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur on Monday cautioned industry about rushing to invest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, questioning how long the U.S. will maintain its technology advantage in the development of the shale gas that is driving the trend towards exports.

A pair of votes Tuesday highlighted the struggle Pennsylvania’s local governments are having with a new regulatory package of shale development.

A landmark ruling by the Texas Supreme Court last month that landowners own groundwater “in place” will benefit shale producers by facilitating the sale of the water, according to Kathleen Hartnett White, a distinguished senior fellow and director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, TX.

The administration of Ohio Gov. John Kasich is proposing to “modernize” taxes and regulations on the oil and gas industry, aiming to cut income taxes by capturing revenue from the prospective Utica Shale boom.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said Friday a dozen small earthquakes in northeastern Ohio over the last year may have been triggered by a wastewater disposal well in Youngstown, and it unveiled a series of tough new regulations for injection wells.

A newly formed Texas company is buying liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled trucks and deploying them in the state’s oil and gas patch under the banner Green Energy Oilfield Services.

Officials from one of two Colorado cities to halt hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within its boundaries, Commerce City, heard from a panel of experts that a permanent ban against the oil/gas industry drilling technology is not possible, and besides, the state already closely regulates the practice.

Only a day after issuing them, Tennessee lifted two meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs. The pipeline also said it continues investigation of a November rupture near Main Line Valve (MLV) 205-4 in Morgan County, OH, about four miles southeast of the city of Glouster (see Daily GPI, Nov. 21, 2011). Currently line 4 is isolated and Tennessee is maintaining a reduced pressure from Station 200 in Greenup, KY, to Station 219 in Mercer, PA. The Rockies Express (REX) interconnect flows into Line 4 between MLVs 208 and 209. To further evaluate the section between the valves, Tennessee was required to reduce the pressure there. Thus it was not accepting any nomination increases at the REX meter Tuesday and effective Wednesday until further notice will not accept any nominations at all from the REX meter.