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Senate Republicans appear to have tempered their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a vote appears imminent.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) was to start up service over the weekend on the first pipeline loop of its major Northeast Supply Link expansion, one of the key links in sending new gas out of the Marcellus Shale.

A bipartisan coalition of 34 senators has called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to speed up its processing of permit requests to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to foreign countries with which the United States does not have have a free trade agreement (non-FTA). At the current rate, the senators estimated that it could take the department up to two years to approve all of the non-FTA permits pending at DOE.

The state of Alaska last week took the next step toward going it alone to find out how much oil and gas lies beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) after an offer to partner with the federal government on the effort was rebuffed by the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI).

A House subcommittee last Wednesday voted out a Republican-sponsored bill that seeks to speed up the permitting of interstate natural gas pipelines by both federal and state agencies.

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Thursday it plans to develop a proposed rule requiring companies who make chemical substances and mixtures used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to report data on the chemicals.

Consol Energy Inc. has opened a water treatment plant near Mannington, WV, that will be used to treat up to 3,500 gallons per minute of water from coal mines, some of which could be put to use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in the area.

Analysts believe operators in the Utica Shale will soon be able to bring many of their wells into production, thanks to progress in building new gathering lines, but they also caution that investors may have set their expectations too high for areas outside of the play’s core.

Oilfield services giant Nabors Industries Ltd. last week warned that operating results for the second quarter will fall below consensus estimates because of a “pronounced” shortfall in the pressure pumping and top drive completion service lines.