E&P

The Barnett Shale may have lost some of its allure as producers chased other unconventional prizes, but an updated federal assessment indicates the venerable North Texas play holds nearly double the amount of undiscovered natural gas, liquids and oil resources than estimated in 2003.

A day before its parent company, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Eureka Hunter Pipeline LLC again announced record throughput on its Appalachian gathering system.

The traditional call on natural gas held in storage has been threatened by warm winter weather to date and could lead to an “unmanageable level of inventories” by the end of the injection season, increasing physical congestion through 2016, BNP Paribas’ director of commodities strategy said Tuesday. Moody’s Investors Service also sharply reduced its U.S. gas price assumptions.

The decades-old ban on U.S. oil exports may be coming to an end.

Nearly one-dozen candidates plan to compete for the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) seat being vacated by current Chairman David Porter.

Basic Energy Services Inc. said its drilling rig days in November slumped to 59 from 298 in the year-ago period. The utilization rate was 16%, versus 83% a year ago and 13% in October.

Texas and Louisiana independent operator Cubic Energy Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection in a prepackaged plan that gives control of the company to its lenders.

After a year of steep losses, dwindling cash flow and growing debt, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. said Tuesday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a final effort to restructure the company and clean up its balance sheet.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated federal law by using an array of social media platforms to promote its controversial Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, and conducted a campaign of “covert propaganda” over an 18-month period.