E&P

California authorities last Friday filed the report of their latest accelerated review of oil/natural gas industry underground injection control (UIC) wells with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There are more than 50,000 of the wells statewide.

Attorneys representing the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Western Energy Alliance (WPA) asked a federal court to block the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from enacting its final rule for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands, arguing that the rulemaking process was flawed and will cost producers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Rio Blanco County, CO, elected officials recently passed a measure to temporarily suspend impact fees on oil/natural gas development to encourage business expansion.

If it decides to make the investment and build an ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) pcl said earlier this week that it plans to begin commercial production at the facility by 2020.

In a strongly worded rebuttal, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday lashed out at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry for its role in opposing his severance tax proposal on oil and natural gas production in the state, calling the group's stance "unacceptable" and accusing it of appeasing special interests.

U.S. onshore operators Lucas Energy Inc. and Victory Energy Corp. have canceled their merger plans, and the two sides are working toward finalizing terms for a mutual settlement and release agreement.

U.S. shale oil breakevens have fallen by $20/bbl in one year and may decline more on field efficiencies, resulting in a duel with OPEC for market share, while the rest of the industry fights for relevance, according to Goldman Sachs.

A division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will be receiving four new seismometers and plans to deploy at least two of them in the western and northwestern parts of the state, enabling it to monitor more of the state for seismic activity.

The U.S. plastics industry is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, fueled by cheap and abundant shale natural gas that’s made it more competitive with overseas markets, according to a report by economists at the American Chemistry Council (ACC).