E&P

The need for the multi-billion-dollar parallel Sandpiper Pipeline addition was questioned Tuesday by a Minnesota refinery and customer of the existing North Dakota Pipeline Co. (NDP) oil pipeline from the Bakken Shale.

Independence Oilfield Chemicals LLC (IOC) said it has developed a fluid for use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations that has a lower chemical content.

Two controversial proposals for the robust Bakken oil patch in North Dakota came to an end Monday with more of a whimper than a bang, according to the three-member Industrial Commission.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Encana Corp. representatives are scheduled to be arraigned in a Michigan county district court on March 19 after the companies were formally charged Wednesday for allegedly participating in a criminal conspiracy in 2010 to avoid bidding against each other in a state oil and natural gas auction.

The top three trade groups that represent the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania filed a petition with the state’s Commonwealth Court on Wednesday, asking that they be allowed to intervene in the ongoing legal battle over Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

Los Angeles City Council at the end of February directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance banning well stimulation practices. It is reportedly aimed at hydraulic fracturing (fracking) but is cast more broadly than that, according to oil/natural gas industry sources.

Oil and gas companies are claiming too many trade secret exemptions in FracFocus disclosures of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and the registry contains several errors, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) task force charged with reviewing the website.

Halcon Resources Corp. said Tuesday that its Utica Shale drilling program is on hold pending the results of two wells, with no plans to move a rig into the play this year until more data is on hand.

Drilling and completion technology advances are powering North America’s natural gas supply growth, but down the value chain near the burner tip, the gas industry is burdened by outdated regulatory policies and needs new technology and innovation to capitalize on gas supply, speakers said at IHS CERAWeek in Houston Wednesday.