E&P

The United States has climbed in the rankings of the world’s most energy secure countries, according to a ranking compiled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. plans to spend 60% of its 2014 capital budget — $8.1-8.5 billion — in the U.S. onshore, particularly the No. 1 asset, Colorado’s Wattenberg field, the company said Tuesday.

With one-third of its global energy reserves in the U.S. onshore, BP plc is preparing to do battle with shale-focused independents by separating its domestic operations, management said Tuesday.

President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2015 calls for $11.7 billion to fund the Department of Interior (DOI), including millions for study of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and funds to oversee oil and gas development on federal lands on- and offshore. Some of the funding burden would be shifted onto industry in the form of fees.

An ethane cracker and associated petrochemical facilities could bring billions to the economy of West Virginia for the next 40 years, but state officials must enact several strategies in order to take maximum advantage of that opportunity, according to a report.

New data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) show large infrastructure expansions that occurred in the state last year only marginally reduced the backlog of wells there, despite a significant increase in annual production.

Production at SandRidge Energy Inc. stayed flat last year as the company continued to switch its operational focus to the Midcontinent, where it hopes to make gains this year and keep reducing costs.

Nearly 10 years on and after 3 Tcf of cumulative operated production, the Fayetteville Shale is still setting records for the play’s pioneer, Southwestern Energy Co. Meanwhile, Marcellus Shale activity last year drove overall company production to record levels.

The recent propane crisis, which involved shortages of the heating fuel in the Midwest and Northeast prompted by unusually frigid winter weather, could actually result in a stronger propane industry, according to RBN Energy’s Callie Mitchell.