E&P

With a new swarm of 3.1-magnitude earthquakes not far from Oklahoma City, state regulators earlier this month ordered cutbacks in disposal well operations in specific areas (see Shale Daily,Aug. 4), but some industry observers see that action spreading throughout the state eventually. The first phase of the cutbacks takes effect Aug. 23.

Finding and repairing leaks, capturing natural gas from the completion of hydraulically fractured oil wells, and limiting emissions from new and modified pneumatic pumps and equipment used at transmission compressor stations would cut methane emissions as much as 400,000 short tons by 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Tuesday.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last Friday called out a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) master leasing plan (MLP) for federal lands in east-central Utah as a model for how communities can balance oil/natural gas development with protection of iconic landscapes such as the lands around Moab, UT. The plan begins a 90-day comment period Friday, but some industry sources are already calling the MLP redundant.

Startling exceptions to gloom pervading first-half 2015 corporate statements confirm that a sweet spot — where rich resources compensate for poor prices — is emerging in Western Canada’s endowment of natural gas steeped in liquid byproducts.

EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) saw its production decline during the second quarter with bad weather in Texas and Appalachian Basin maintenance shut-ins, but the company is keeping a sharp eye on its estimate of $9 billion in assets on, or soon to be on, the market.

Anticipating and advocating the proposed Obama administration methane emissions rules, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) representatives on Monday mounted their soapbox again to beat the drum for tough new requirements that will support the administration’s stated goal of reducing the emissions 40-45% by 2025.

Financially troubled Samson Resources Corp. has made a restructuring pact that will cut debt and bring at least $450 million of new capital into the company as it prepares for a Chapter 11 filing, the Tulsa-based producer said late Friday.

Spending by U.S. producers is estimated to be down around 60% from 2014 — twice as much as some analysts have estimated, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday. North American producers also have less protection from sustained low commodity prices than they did a year ago because of less hedging, according to Barclays Capital.

Permian pure-play operator Parsley Energy Inc. said it plans to keep running four rigs through the rest of the year and notched up its production guidance, as it also launches a transition to pad drilling and begins to appraise the development potential of a prospect in the Southern Delaware Basin.