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The DeWitt County, TX, tax base might be bursting with Eagle Ford Shale dollars, but the South Texas county’s roads are buckling under the weight of trucks and other vehicles in the service of developing the play, a new study has found. And a county judge claims his county and others in the play are being short-changed when it comes to funds for road repair.

The well-worn paths for global natural gas, traditionally traced along the trade flows of liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansions, have been rerouted as unconventional gas — and especially shale — has washed out old bridges to the past, according to a report by the International Gas Union (IGU) and IHS Inc.

Another study is under way to look at hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and increased seismic activity in an urban oilfield sitting in a hilly southwest residential portion of Los Angeles. The producer in the crosshairs of skeptics, Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP), is undaunted in its efforts to try to make increased drilling activity in a mostly residential area work, according to local news reports.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) prices have been under pressure for a while, but some might be caught off guard by continuing weakness in the NGL sector, cautioned analysts at Wells Fargo Securities in a note Tuesday.

Natural gas is on the precipice of a global “golden age,” but it could easily collapse under the weight of public opposition to drilling unless legitimate concerns are addressed, officials with the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week.

Natural gas is on the precipice of a global “golden age,” but it could easily collapse under the weight of public opposition to drilling unless legitimate concerns are addressed, officials with the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

Spectra Energy’s long-under-attack New Jersey-New York Expansion on Monday received unanimous approval from FERC, which means firm natural gas transportation service into Manhattan could be operational sometime during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Fifty-five investment organizations and institutional investors with nearly $1 trillion in assets under management are pushing for implementation of “best practices” for hydraulic fracturing (fracking), according to a trio of shareholder groups — Boston Common Asset Management, the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) — which are spearheading the effort.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday finalized how the new unconventional natural gas drilling impact fee for Marcellus Shale operators enacted under Act 13, will be imposed, implemented and collected, but because of pending litigation, rules that govern oil and gas operations were not addressed.