Value

Furthering its plans to acquire approximately 3,650 net acres of Marcellus Shale leasehold, Westmont Resources Inc. on Friday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of a 252-acre oil and gas leasehold in Pennsylvania’s southwest tier.

The Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Mark Brownstein held up an oil and gas company’s magazine advertisement touting “responsible” energy development. “The point is, I don’t really know if it’s true. In fact, no one really knows if it’s true,” said EDF’s energy program deputy director.

The value of fugitive natural gas and condensate air emissions in the Barnett Shale of North Texas is about $52 million a year, according to research paid for by a clean air group, which asserts that “simple air pollution control devices” would capture this lost revenue if they were installed in the nine-county nonattainment area around Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW).

Denver-based Inflection Energy has leased 3,000 additional acres in Broome County, NY, in the midst of the Marcellus Shale, bringing the total under its control in the state to approximately 15,000 acres. The county is located on the border with Pennsylvania, where the privately held exploration and production company holds more than 6,000 acres.

Williams is investing C$311 million to expand two Alberta off-gas facilities that would support a new long-term agreement to produce up to 17,000 b/d of ethane and ethylene for Canadian petrochemical heavyweight NOVA Chemicals Corp.

The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which was formed earlier this month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and tasked with reporting back to the governor by July, held its first meeting in Harrisburg Friday.

Shale formations are poised to create a renaissance in the U.S. petrochemical industry, Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said Wednesday.

The U.S. solar industry recorded year/year growth in 2010 amounting to a 67% increase in the industry’s market value compared to 2009, hitting $6 billion last year, compared to $3.6 billion the previous year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. SEIA called solar a “bright spot on the U.S. economy” last year as the nation’s fastest growing energy sector. There were 878 MW of photovoltaic (PV) installations and 78 MW of concentrating solar power installed last year. The PV market made the most significant strides, more than doubling installation totals from 2009, according to the report, “U.S. Solar Market Insight: Year-in-Review 2010.” Nationally, 16 states each installed more than 10 MW of PV last year, increasing from only four states in 2007. The top 10 states in order were California, New Jersey, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. The study indicated that price declines were an “important factor” in the solar expansion last year.

In recognition of the “value gap” between oil and natural gas prices, Chesapeake Energy Corp. will continue to direct a big chunk of its technological and leasehold acquisition expertise to “identify, secure and commercialize” new unconventional liquids-rich plays, CEO Aubrey McClendon said Wednesday.