Wells

Authorities in Quebec have been monitoring environmental groups opposed to shale gas development in the province for the last two years on fears that their activities could become radicalized and violent, according to a report by La Presse, a French newspaper in Montreal.

Endurance Resources Holdings LLC announced Monday that Lime Rock Partners, a global energy-focused private equity firm, had committed $100 million for Endurance to acquire oil-focused assets and additional opportunities in two Southeast New Mexico counties that overlay the Bone Spring formation.

A subsea survey for the fourth time has confirmed the integrity of the Macondo well and the associated relief wells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, BP plc said. The visual inspection by BP and Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, was to see if residual oil remained trapped under wreckage. The sheen is not recoverable and poses no risk to the shoreline, the U.S. Coast Guard said. No conclusive evidence of hydrocarbons leaking was observed from the surveyed area, but a “white, cloudy substance” appeared to emanate from several places on the overturned rig. Samples were collected, and BP plans to review the results with federal officials.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has drafted proposed rules for sampling and monitoring groundwater before and after new wells are drilled, as well as changes to setbacks, which formalizes some procedures that the industry had begun voluntarily last year (see Shale Daily, Aug. 4, 2011).

The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett says new natural gas pipelines should be allowed to share rights-of-way (ROW) with roadways, one of 16 policy recommendations made to fulfill a requirement of the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, Act 13.

With production out of the nation’s shale plays holding down natural gas prices and electricity generation becoming ever more dependent on inexpensive gas, coordination between the two markets will continue to be a top priority and a series of other issues need to be resolved, according to panelists at the Energy Bar Association (EBA) Mid-Year conference in Washington, DC, Friday.

Gulfport Energy Corp. has spud some of the largest producing wells in the Utica Shale to date, and the play continues to be the Oklahoma City-based operator’s “primary focus area,” according to CEO James Palm.

Longmont, CO, voters Tuesday approved a hotly contested ban on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within its jurisdiction, passing a ballot measure (Question 300) by a comfortable margin, according to reports.

Liquids-rich gas and high initial production rates from oil wells are driving red hot interest in the Eagle Ford Shale, and this is only bolstered by the region’s established midstream infrastructure and proximity to energy markets, Fitch Ratings said in a new report. More isolated shale basins need costly “mega pipelines,” which are tougher on credit ratings, Fitch said.