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MarkWest Utica EMG LLC has clinched an agreement with Rex Energy Corp. to expand its Utica Shale midstream infrastructure.

Transocean Ltd.’s agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pay $1 billion in civil penalties related to the 2010 Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico has been approved by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans. Transocean had employed nine of the 11 men who were killed when the company’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform was destroyed. The company already has pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor and agreed to pay a separate $400 million fine to DOJ (see Daily GPI, Feb. 15; Jan. 4).

Energy productivity could double with significant macro environmental and economic benefits through stepped-up efficiency programs during the next two decades, according to a report by a national nonpartisan commission headed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and National Grid U.S. President Tom King.

Energy productivity could double with significant macro environmental and economic benefits through stepped-up efficiency programs during the next two decades, according to a report by a national nonpartisan commission headed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and National Grid U.S. President Tom King.

While other stakeholders have been critical of California’s preliminary draft hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rules, two energy attorneys with the firm of K&L Gates consider the rules’ proposed protections for trade secrets to be adequate for shielding exploration and production (E&P) operators’ proprietary information tied to fracking.

Internal test results, couple with those of other local operators, have bolstered Mancos Shale natural gas prospects for Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp., according to CEO David Emery, who offered an optimistic outlook in reporting increased profits for 4Q2012 and all of last year for the diversified utility and exploration and production (E&P) company.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will undertake a 12-14 month comprehensive study of naturally occurring levels of radioactivity in by-products of oil and natural gas development, the agency said Thursday.

Make no mistake, the shale boom is a great thing for the country, but anyone expecting it to yield energy independence is in need of a reality check, according to Fitch Ratings.

Lone Star Fractionator I in Mont Belvieu, TX, a 100,000 b/d natural gas liquids (NGL) facility designed to handle prolific NGL production in the Permian and Eagle Ford regions, is now in service, according to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Regency Energy Partners.