E&P

A North Dakota federal district judge on Thursday blocked the Obama administration’s proposed expansion of the scope of the federal Clean Water Act, calling the proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “exceptionally expansive.” A preliminary injunction sought by 13 states was granted.

Schlumberger Ltd. and frequent partner Cameron International Corp. agreed Wednesday to merge in a deal estimated to be worth $14.8 billion, combining complementary technology portfolios that they said would be the industry’s first “complete” drilling and production systems.

Another petition to ban oil and natural gas development in Ohio has been invalidated, this time in Youngstown, where the local county board of elections voted unanimously Wednesday not to certify it for the Nov. 3 ballot.

Stagnant oil and natural gas prices have put the hurt on the exploration and production (E&P) sector and oilfield service firms, but there’s probably no better time to make investments in energy, particularly new companies and new technologies, two private equity (PE) experts told a Denver audience on Wednesday.

It is unlikely that producers will be able to meet North Dakota’s next natural gas capture goal early next year, so the state’s chief energy regulator on Wednesday asked elected officials to postpone the requirement, which is set to begin Jan. 1.

Production from depleted shale wells could be improved through the use of a stimulation technique being developed by Maurer Engineering Inc. that consists of drilling drain holes across hydraulic fractures, the Austin-based company said.

Oil and natural gas operators in California face stepped up oversight in the months ahead as the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) undergoes an extensive reorganization, the head of DOGGR told NGI’s Shale Daily on Tuesday.

Although anti-hydraulic fracturing groups have attacked him for being too supportive of the oil and gas industry, California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday took a poke at operators in the context of climate change initiatives, alleging they sell a “highly destructive” product.

Ohio’s Utica Shale is likely to soon surpass another key milestone, with the state reporting that it is just three shy of having issued 2,000 horizontal drilling permits for the play, where nearly 1,000 wells are producing.