Wells

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told attendees of a Philadelphia clean energy conference that he believes hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be done safely, but added that he supports the de facto moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Basin and would even back a genuine one.

Texas tax revenues during fiscal year 2012, which ended Aug. 31, were considerably higher than the prior year, according to the state comptroller’s office, thanks in part to oil and gas activities in the state.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly and lawyers representing several state agencies filed briefs with the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, arguing that an appellate court erred when it said portions of Act 13, the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, were unconstitutional.

Tomball, TX-based independent JBL Energy Partners and its partners completed the sale of an interest in 17,000 acres in Leon County, TX, within the Woodbine oil play to Halcon Resources. The sale included all oil, gas and mineral rights owned by JBL and its partners within the acreage position.

An energy official in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration said natural gas is being viewed as a potential “bridge fuel” to the future, when technological advances will presumably open the door for renewables.

The village council of Carrollton, OH, has voted in favor of a nondevelopmental oil and natural gas lease agreement with Rex Energy Corp. that was valued at $938,000 on Monday.

TransCanada’s ANR Pipeline Co. is holding a nonbinding open season for potential expansion of receipt capacity on its Lebanon Lateral in eastern Indiana and western Ohio. The project would carry growing production from the Marcellus and Utica shales, TransCanada said.

Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar reiterated Tuesday that the Obama administration is continuing to develop draft rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in drilling operations, which he said would not slow the natural gas and oil boom.

Cardinal Midstream LLC has brought a third cryogenic gas processing plant online in the Arkoma Woodford Shale, and it now has 220 MMcf/d of operated cryogenic processing capacity in the Oklahoma play. The new Tupelo Plant in Coal County, OK, is capable of processing 120 MMcf/d. Cardinal’s Coalgate Plant, an 80 MMcf/d facility, is adjacent to Tupelo, and the Atoka Plant in Atoka County, has a capacity of 20 MMcf/d. Cardinal Midstream President R. Mack Lawrence said the company was expanding its gathering system and “evaluating further processing capacity expansions given the level of drilling activity on dedicated acreage and the quality and production volume we’re seeing from the rich gas wells in the play.”