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Range Resources Inc., which two years ago turned away from the Barnett Shale and toward the Marcellus Shale, saw its overall production boom in 3Q2012, based in large part on a surge of Marcellus gas, according to CEO Jeff Ventura.

A research team led by the University of Texas at Austin (UT) is collaborating with nine natural gas producers on a major field study to measure methane emissions at onshore gas well sites, about which only a handful of empirical data exist.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is looking for buyers for some land in Western Oklahoma’s emerging Granite Wash and Hogshooter plays, according to Meagher Energy Advisors.

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. closed a previously announced $243 million sale of approximately 85% of Bakken and Three Forks shale assets in the Williston Basin held by its Black Hills Exploration & Production Inc. (see Shale Daily, Aug. 27). The sale was effective July 1. CEO David Emery said the sale will allow the energy holding company to reduce its overall debt and fund growth projects. Black Hills also said it intends to redeem $225 million of senior unsecured 6.5% notes that were scheduled to mature May 15, 2013.

Nearly two years after plans for a natural gas-fired generating station in Oakville, ON, were canceled by the provincial government, TransCanada Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to develop, own and operate a 900 MW gas-fired power plant at OPA’s Lennox Generating Station in Bath, on Lake Ontario’s northern shore.

Environmental questions and high costs for water have created a big headache for unconventional oil and gas producers, but it won’t take long before those problems are turned into opportunities for other businesses, according to industry executives.

A coalition of environmental groups is calling on Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to enact a moratorium on natural gas drilling in West Virginia until the industry and regulators with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) meet several conditions.

Enterprise Products Partners LP has started operation of the second 300 MMcf/d train at its Yoakum cryogenic gas processing plant in Lavaca County, TX. The facility handles production from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for a second term, President Obama Thursday said Democrats were offering the nation a “better path” on energy — one that will continue to focus on renewable energy, develop abundant natural gas supplies, give producers more access for domestic onshore oil and gas exploration, reduce foreign oil imports and cut carbon pollution.