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President Obama’s nominee for Interior secretary, Sally Jewell, former CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), told a Senate panel Thursday that she can do something that probably no other department nominee could: hydraulically fracture (frack) a well.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission voted to partially adopt federal clean air rules that target hydraulic fracturing (fracking) emissions and hold public meetings next year to consider full implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

A vast majority of natural gas cash points took their cue from Tuesday’s 10.5-cent increase in September futures to post gains — albeit small — on Wednesday for Thursday delivery. However, if they continue to follow that model, declines could be in store on Thursday as the prompt-month futures contract on Wednesday gave nearly all of the prior-day’s gains away.

ExxonMobil Corp.’s production in the Bakken Shale has reached about 32,000 boe/d, which is 60% higher than a year ago and double the amount the company was producing just three years ago, a top executive said Thursday. Two more oil-directed rigs have been added to the play in just the past three months.

Looking to capitalize on the United States’ recent windfall of vast supplies of natural gas, Excelerate Energy LP is moving forward with the development of the first floating liquefaction facility in the country utilizing its Floating Liquefaction Storage Offloading (FLSO) vessel technology. The Lavaca Bay liquefied natural gas (LNG) project would be located in Port Lavaca, between Galveston and Corpus Christi on the Texas Gulf Coast, and designed to export LNG to markets worldwide by 2017.

Looking to capitalize on the United States’ recent windfall of vast supplies of natural gas, Excelerate Energy LP is moving forward with the development of the first floating liquefaction facility in the country utilizing its Floating Liquefaction Storage Offloading (FLSO) vessel technology. The Lavaca Bay liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will be located in Port Lavaca, situated between Galveston and Corpus Christi on the Texas Gulf Coast, and will be designed to export LNG to markets worldwide by 2017.

A district court judge in Texas has reversed his earlier ruling that oil and natural gas equipment used “below ground” should be exempt from state sales taxes on extraction equipment.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has used a variety of savvy financial means to raise money for exploring and developing its vast unconventional portfolio in the United States, is preparing to launch its diverse onshore oilfield services unit through an initial public offering (IPO), a separate company that would continue to be closely tied to its main customer, the Oklahoma City-based producer.

Exploration and production companies looking for ways to develop vast natural gas reserves deep within upstate New York’s Southern Tier have faced an “unwelcome” mat in recent years, with a state-imposed drilling moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), as well as many town council-imposed outright drilling bans. However, producers now face what may be an even bigger threat: the Preservation League of New York State.