E&P

Philadelphia-based Atlas Energy Group LLC (ATLS), which owns all of the general partner interest, distribution rights and a 23% limited partner interest in its upstream subsidiary, Atlas Resource Partners LP (ARP), has fallen below the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) continued listing standards.

The United States saw two oil-directed rigs and no natural gas units leave the hunt in the final rig count of 2015, according to Baker Hughes Inc.

Domestic dry natural gas production and consumption, which reached record highs several times in 2015, again soared into unchartered territory in October, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Range Resources Corp. said late Wednesday that it closed a deal to sell its coalbed methane assets in Virginia’s Nora Field, receiving $865 million in proceeds — $11 million less than what it announced when the company entered the agreement in November.

In a ruling that could affect every oil and gas well drilled in Osage County, OK, since 1970, a federal district court judge invalidated a lease and two drilling permits on tribal land on the grounds that federal agencies failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before issuing them.

Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) proposed 1,134-mile, 450,000 b/d oil pipeline from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota to a hub in south-central Illinois won approval from Illinois state regulators earlier this month. Project backers are still hoping to complete the oil line by the end of 2016.

Researchers in Scotland say that besides an abundance of natural gas, the Bowland Shale in the north of England is also rich in the potentially toxic element selenium, which could make gas extraction risky but also has value in itself.

Regulators with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) were working on a response to a new series of earthquakes to hit the state, including a 4.3-magnitude temblor that struck near Edmond on Tuesday, but winter storms and flooding were the most immediate concern.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director James Zehringer said in a year-end update on Monday that his agency continues to grow stronger in response to the state’s shale gas development, hiring more oil and gas inspectors, creating new programs and strengthening existing regulations.