Utica

Demand between now and 2015 will prop up natural gas prices, even with a backlog of drilled wells awaiting connection, and from 2016 to 2018 a “dramatic structural increase” in demand could outpace supply additions and send gas prices to as high as $6.00/MMBtu, BNP Paribas’ Teri Viswanath, director of commodity strategy, said Friday.

Halcon Field Services, a unit of Halcon Resources Corp., is proposing to build a storage and rail-loading terminal for Utica Shale oil at the Ohio Commerce Center industrial rail park in the village of Lordstown, in Trumbull County, OH. Plans call for four bay truck racks, a 20-rail car loading platform, and six 90,000 bbl storage tanks. The $50-$60 million project is to be completed in three phases, with the first phase expected to go into service by the end of this year. A zoning variance was recently approved to allow construction to begin.

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) has agreed to sell more water to Antero Resources for oil and gas drilling in the Utica Shale.

In an attempt to make the process smoother for oil and gas companies applying for unitization in the emerging Utica Shale, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has unveiled a series of new application requirements.

Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission LP is offering capacity on its Gulf Market Expansion Project, which would give Marcellus and Utica Shale gas access to growing Gulf Coast markets in Louisiana and Texas, including for future export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Injection wells in Ohio handled more wastewater from oil and gas drilling in 2012, especially from out-of-state sources in the Marcellus and Utica shales, but they are on pace to handle less of the material in 2013.

Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission LP is offering capacity on its Gulf Market Expansion Project, which would give Marcellus and Utica Shale gas access to growing Gulf Coast markets in Louisiana and Texas, including for future export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Supreme Court of Ohio has agreed to hear an appeal in a case involving local ordinances, or “home rule” laws, that pits a Utica Shale driller against a Summit County municipality that had tried to shut down the driller’s operations.

In what is considered a symbolic gesture, Rochester, NY’s city council voted unanimously on Tuesday to extend by one year a moratorium on natural gas exploration and extraction activities, and in particular, hydraulic fracturing (fracking).