E&P

As part of a joint industry-state government effort to curb flaring of associated gas at the wellhead, Monday marked the start of new requirements in North Dakota calling for a gas capture plan for each new drilling permit submitted to the Department of Mineral Resource (DMR) oil/gas division.

MarkWest Energy Partners LP said Monday that most of its Houston Processing and Fractionation facility in southwest Pennsylvania is back online after a lightning strike late last Wednesday forced the company to shut down operations there so it could assess the damage (see Shale Daily, May 29).

Opening the spigot on U.S. oil exports would stimulate production, lower domestic prices for gasoline and create nearly one million jobs, according to a new study by energy industry-friendly consultancy IHS Inc.

An environmental advocacy group on Wednesday called two former top officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to testify on behalf of its efforts to stop Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration from leasing anymore state park or forestlands.

The Obama administration on Thursday acknowledged the U.S. energy sector for its “appreciable contribution” to jobs growth and recovery from the Great Recession, noting that the oil and natural gas sector alone had contributed more than 0.2% to real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2012 and in 2013, with sector employment increasing jobs by 133,000 between 2010 and 2013.

The California state Senate on Thursday rejected a bill (SB 1132) seeking to establish a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), for which the state is in the process of finalizing new rules from a bill (SB 4) passed last year.

Another investigation by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has concluded that the evidence does not support allegations that Barnett Shale drilling and hydraulic fracturing activities contaminated a number of water wells with methane in the area of Range Resources Corp. gas wells.

North America’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services market should remain strong through 2016 on robust drilling and completion activity, with demand in the United States and Canada set for double-digit growth this year, PacWest Consulting Partners said in a new analysis.

Landfills in West Virginia will stop accepting drilling sludge after the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) discovered that a site in Harrison County recently accepted the material after it was rejected at another dump across the state line in Pennsylvania.