Using

An El Paso Corp.-operated well in North Louisiana is the first gas-producing well to be completed using all three of Halliburton’s proprietary CleanSuite production enhancement technologies for both hydraulic fracturing and water treatment, the companies said. More than four million gallons of an ecofriendly CleanStim fracture fluid system, which was first introduced by Halliburton last year (see Daily GPI, Nov. 16, 2010), was used to enhance the well, they said. CleanStim is a food-based fracking solution. Halliburton’s CleanStream process was used to treat nearly 4.8 million gallons of water and another one million gallons of produced water was prepared for recycling in the well through the CleanWave system.

Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology are studying methods for extracting natural gas from tight sands and shale formations using a single-molecule imaging system.

Dow Chemical Co. on Thursday launched an ambitious plan to increase ethylene and propylene production, as well as integrate U.S. operations into feedstock “opportunities” by using the prolific shale gas resources of the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales.

Using Wyoming’s approach as a model, a rarely convened panel in Idaho Tuesday adopted some temporary rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas. The state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, consisting of Idaho’s five statewide elected officials, including its governor, unanimously took its action that was prompted by natural gas drilling in a single county, Payette.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been around for decades with little or no environmental problems, and it is a key to the nation’s energy independence through stepped up use of plentiful natural gas supplies in transportation, oilman-turned-clean transportation advocate T. Boone Pickens told a National Press Club luncheon Tuesday in which he tackled a wide-ranging set of energy, environmental and political issues with fellow billionaire and CNN founder Ted Turner.

Petrobras America Inc., a subsidiary of the Brazil’s Petrobras, Thursday won final approval to begin oil and natural gas production off the coast of Louisiana using a floating production storage offloading (FPSO) facility. This is the first time that this technology will be used in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM), which approved the permit and operating plan for the project.

Petrohawk Energy Corp. on Tuesday announced it has conducted successful tests using a new flow-channel fracturing technique called HiWAY, created by Houston-based Schlumberger Ltd. The producer said 10-12 test wells in the Hawkville Field area of the Eagle Ford Shale play yielded increased production, which will lead to expanded use of the technology.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the U.S. oil and natural gas sector has overcome challenges year to date to surpass 2009 levels, an analysis by PwC US said.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the U.S. oil and natural gas sector has overcome challenges year to date to surpass 2009 levels, an analysis by PwC US said.