E&P

Production from five of the top six major tight/shale oil and natural gas regions in the United States are projected to increase over the next year, reaching totals comparable to nations on the world stage, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

California Gov. Jerry Brown was shouted down by anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) advocates last weekend in Los Angeles at a state Democratic Party meeting in which a majority of the political party attendees forced a call for a ban on the drilling practice as part of the official platform this election year.

Resolute Energy Corp. said its first horizontal wells targeting the Delaware Basin and part of the Powder River Basin have exceeded its expectations, and the company plans to devote most of its 2014 budget to capital expenditures (capex) in the two plays.

North America’s energy renaissance is going full tilt, but it could be shackled by a lack of personnel, more stringent regulations and even geology, IHS CERAWeek executives said in Houston last week.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has ordered Hilcorp Energy Co. to temporarily halt its operations in Northeast Ohio after a series of minor earthquakes were felt in several townships just miles from where the company has drilled seven wells and has plans for others.

Weather from October to February east of the Rocky Mountains was significantly colder than last winter — and colder than the average for the past 10 years — and the resulting surge in natural gas consumption will drive working inventories at the end of March down to 965 Bcf, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). But don’t expect higher natural gas prices, the agency said.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will likely call a special session of the state legislature to introduce a bill regulating the disposal of drill cuttings and associated drilling waste into commercial landfills, after lawmakers failed to passed the measure before adjourning on Saturday.

Noble Energy Inc. will establish a regional headquarters in Canonsburg, PA, by becoming the anchor tenant of a new 207,000 square-foot office building in the Southpointe business park, which several of the Marcellus Shale’s largest operators also call their regional home.

Chevron Corp. is sitting in the sweet spot to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia-Pacific markets from two world-class Australian export facilities, but there’s no hurry to move an inventory of dry natural gas prospects in the U.S. onshore until conditions are right, executives said Tuesday.