E&P

As a backdrop to a larger drama that appears headed toward a statewide electoral stage, a Boulder County District Court judge on Thursday rejected a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) by the city of Longmont, CO, but allowed the ban to stay in place while the city considers an appeal.

Dallas-based RSP Permian Inc. is buying Permian Basin acreage and oil/gas producing properties in Glasscock County, TX, in multiple deals worth a combined $259 million in cash.

Despite oil and gas companies taking divergent strategies in Ohio’s portion of the Utica Shale — and the elusiveness of a “sweet spot” for producers — the play offers ample opportunities for production and investment, according to a report released Wednesday by the law firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP.

In what is a mixed bag for the oil and railroad industries, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on Wednesday unveiled proposed rules to improve the transport of crude oil via rail, proposing enhanced tank car design specifications, fuel classification and operational requirements for handling crude.

After careful analysis and increasingly promising wells near its asset base, EQT Corp. on Thursday became the second company this year to announce that it will spud its first Utica Shale well in southwest Pennsylvania in the coming months.

The upstream oil and gas economy in Texas has been expanding for the past four and a half years and shows no signs of slowing thanks in part — but not entirely — to global geopolitical tensions, according to a barometer of industry activity called the Texas Petro Index (TPI).

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by local control activists against the industry group, the state and Gov. John Hickenlooper. COGA also is seeking court sanctions against the activists for the allegedly frivolous lawsuits.

Demand for new onshore rigs in the U.S. Lower 48, combined with a big rebound in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services, lifted Nabors Industries Ltd. to better-than-expected improvement in all of the U.S. operations during the second quarter.

Firefighters were allowing a massive fire at the Red River Oilfield Service Co.’s facilities in the Williston Basin to burn late Tuesday as North Dakota state health officials monitored the situation.