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A multi-pad drilling project to test Marcellus and Utica formations in southern Ohio may answer some of the lingering questions about the real resource potential of the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale, an analyst said Tuesday.

With 35 states having created various levels of incentives for using natural gas in transportation and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicting gas use in transportation will grow 100% by 2017, the latest Barclays analysis of U.S. gas broke down some of the metrics and concluded that natural gas vehicles (NGV) on the road will have to swell 12-fold between 2011 and 2017 to meet the EIA prediction.

Oil and natural gas producers still are poring over the 171-page draft rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities on public lands, and while proponents and opponents agree that some concessions were made by the agency in the latest rule to avoid duplication of state and tribal fracking requirements, they say BLM could have gone further.

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. will sell its 40 MW natural gas-fired “CT II” generation unit at its mostly coal-fired Gillette Energy Complex in Wyoming to the City of Gillette for $22 million.

With projections for natural gas staying “far less expensive” than oil through 2040, substantial growth in gas use for electric generation and various industrial applications is also expected, according to the 2013 Annual Outlook by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

As one of the hottest growing hydrocarbon areas in North America, North Dakota’s legislature has been immersed this year with various proposals to deal with oil and natural gas-related issues. So far, the stakeholders embroiled in the debate are not sure which, if any, bills will make it through the legislative meat grinder.

As one of the hottest growing hydrocarbon areas in North America, North Dakota’s legislature has been immersed this year with various proposals to deal with oil and natural gas-related issues. So far, the stakeholders embroiled in the debate are not sure which, if any, bills will make it through the legislative meat grinder.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) reconvened Thursday in Denver, but was unable to resolve lingering issues and delayed until Feb. 11 finalizing new setback requirements for oil and natural gas wells.

California’s preliminary state agency-drafted rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have been targeted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which has criticized state regulators as being in “denial” of potential harmful environmental impacts of fracking.