Working

Rara Terra Minerals Corp. has reportedly acquired a 75% working interest in oil and natural gas leases in Trego County, KS, for $393,750.

San Antonio-based Abraxas Petroleum Corp. is finalizing talks to sell its 25% working interest in the Nordheim Project in the Eagle Ford Shale to an institutional buyer for about $20 million, the company said Monday.

New wells in the nation’s shale plays helped push natural gas production higher in Texas and some other states in August, but it wasn’t enough to keep the U.S. total from sliding to 76.60 Bcf/d, a 3.4% decline compared with 79.33 Bcf/d in July, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report.

Dominion Resources Inc. has secured a long-term natural gas gathering service agreement in northeastern Ohio with M3 Ohio Gathering (Momentum) to process wet gas from the Utica Shale and is readying several projects in the Utica and Marcellus shale region to expand capacity services, CEO Tom Farrell said Thursday.

With $2.375 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is working on two projects with Northwestern University researchers and a startup they have created, NuMat Technologies to develop lightweight, affordable natural gas vehicle (NGV) fuel tanks for passenger cars, along with natural gas compressors that can fuel the vehicles in the home or office settings. The projects are part of DOE’s Methane Opportunities for Vehicular Energy program. GTI plans to develop “a low-pressure adsorbent material” to be used in gas storage tanks designed exclusively for NGVs to overcome the current heavy, large tanks that must withstand pressures of up to 3,600 psi, which adds to the cost and weight of the NGVs compared to gasoline and diesel vehicles. GTI received $1.5 million from DOE to develop the advanced adsorbed natural gas technology for fueling tanks and $875,000 to develop a unique low-pressure NGV fueling technology.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) this week sued New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration to obtain documents that would show how the state has drafted its plan to permit high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling for unconventional natural gas.

Calgary-based Encana Corp. and Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. are stirring up interest in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, where they are working separately with area drillers to explore in the Mancos Shale.

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.

Oil and natural gas operators working in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea area would have a negligible effect on polar bears and walruses, according to a federal appeals court, which on Tuesday backed rules issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).