Shale Daily

The National Science Foundation (NSF) said Monday that scientists have developed new geochemical tracers that can identify hydraulic fracturing (fracking) flowback fluids that have been spilled or released into the environment.

Oil and natural gas operators may be able to reduce the costs to drill and complete unconventional wells by up to 40% by integrating logistics, contractors and materials, Accenture research has found.

Sparked by Mexico’s recent energy reform, Alfa, a Mexican diversified industrial company with dealings from energy to chemicals to branded foods, said Monday it is looking to raise significant capital to expand its energy production footprint in Mexico, with a focus on shale natural gas.

While construction projects and jobs in non-shale gas related industries declined sharply from 2008 to 2014, tradesman in five states within or near to the Marcellus Shale worked more hours and benefited heavily from investments in the formation’s development, according to a new study.

More than a year after becoming the only local jurisdiction in New Mexico to ban all oil and natural gas activity, Mora County’s three-member elected commission voted last Tuesday against repealing the ban it passed in April 2013. However, an industry representative predicts that the ban will be repealed next year.

Whether domestic exploration and production companies will slow 2015 capital expenditures if cash flows slow on low commodity prices is too early to say, but any concerns by operators likely will impact spending growth rates, Schlumberger Ltd. CEO Paal Kibsgaard said Friday.

Dallas-based Eagle Materials Inc. has agreed to pay $225 million to buy hydraulic fracturing (fracking) sand producer CRS Proppants LLC to expand market share in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale and Midcontinent, as well as nearly double its sand capacity and reserves.

A study published in the journal Seismological Research Letters suggests that horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Ohio’s Utica Shale triggered a series of 400 small earthquakes in Harrison County over a two-month period last year.

FERC has approved PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC’s request to initiate pre-filing review of its proposed 108-mile, 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline to transport 1 Bcf/d of gas from Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania to Transco’s Trenton-Woodbury interconnection in New Jersey. The pipeline is projected to enter service in 2017 (see Shale Daily,Sept. 5). PennEast said it plans to complete pre-filing and file a formal application at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in third quarter 2015.