Marcellus

The head of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) said the agency needs $1 million to hire seven additional conservation officers in order to patrol waterways in the Marcellus Shale to look for oil and gas polluters.

Antero Resources Corp. said Friday it produced 891 MMcfe/d in the second quarter, a 94% year-over-year increase that set a company record and passed the milestone of 1 Bcfe/d of net production.

Rising U.S. onshore production and the oversupply that continues to stoke concerns about near-term drilling economics and price realizations in the Appalachian Basin could slowly be reversed with a basis uplift beginning in 2016 if demand, midstream bottlenecks and new technology improve as forecasted, according to a report from Canaccord Genuity.

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Thursday dismantled the state’s argument that the Public Utilities Commission could still review and challenge local zoning ordinances that did not facilitate oil and gas development in a ruling that preserved a key decision by the state Supreme Court in December.

An amendment to Pennsylvania budget enacted by the legislature to separate regulations for unconventional and conventional operators could delay a package of regulatory updates for several months, said Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Chris Abruzzo. DEP has been working since 2011 to update Chapter 78 of the state code (see Shale Daily,Aug. 29, 2013). Abruzzo told the DEP’s Citizens Advisory Committee there would be no major changes to the proposed rules, but the format would be different. The regulations may be implemented in 2016 as scheduled (see Shale Daily,May 13), but it may take more time to separate them.

Appalachian pure-play operator Antero Resources Corp. added 1.5 Tcfe to its proved reserves during the first half of the year, mainly on a robust drilling program in the Marcellus and Utica shales, where shorter stage length (SSL) completions boosted well performance.

A new truck-to-rail transloading facility has opened in Parkersburg, WV, that is capable of handling more than 150,000 bbl of crude oil condensate and natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shales.

A judge in New York State dismissed two lawsuits filed against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other officials over the ongoing regulatory delay for considering high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), on the grounds that the plaintiffs in both cases do not have proper legal standing.

The Marcellus Shale continued to drive significant production gains for Consol Energy Inc. in the second quarter, while its program in the Utica Shale is picking up pace and expected to account for a larger portion of volumes by the end of this year.