E&P

California’s legislature late Wednesday passed a heavily amended bill (SB 4) aimed at regulating the oil/natural gas practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and Gov. Jerry Brown said he intends to sign the measure. For different reasons, industry, environmental and some major news media expressed displeasure with the version of SB 4 that ultimately passed both houses of state’s legislature.

An acquisition of acreage and production in the Anadarko Basin last spring is paying off for Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc., according to the company’s operations update released Wednesday. The news cheered investors, who lifted Midstates shares more than 14% Wednesday.

Oklahoma City’s Continental Resources Inc. is preparing for a 26-32% increase in oil and natural gas production in 2014, CEO Harold Hamm said Tuesday.

EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) and partnerships managed by EnerVest Ltd. have agreed to acquire Barnett Shale natural gas properties from Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc.

Gastar Exploration Ltd. is bolting on another 24,000 acres to its estimable leasehold in the Hunton Limestone in Oklahoma and is continuing to scout for a partner to help develop the property, now estimated to be about 132,400 net acres, the producer said late Thursday.

With the soon-to-adjourn state legislature looking to pass stringent rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the city of Los Angeles is now proposing to impose a ban on the practice. Meanwhile, an ongoing state administrative process is expected to result in new fracking rules this fall.

A unit of Chesapeake Energy Corp. has won a victory in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit about its rights to drill natural gas wells and use open waste pits on private property because the operator had all of the needed permits in place from West Virginia regulators.

Inergy Midstream LP and Enserco Midstream LLC have formed a joint venture to own and operate a crude oil rail terminal in Douglas County, WY. They expect to expand the facility to take advantage of growing production from the Niobrara formation.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is awaiting approval by the courts of a proposed $7.5 million settlement to resolve claims that a unit improperly charged Pennsylvania leaseholders post-production fees, a spokesman said Tuesday.