Shale Daily

A coalition of seven counties in eastern Utah has secured $55 million in state funding toward the possible construction of a 100-mile freight railroad into the Uinta Basin, a line that could also be used for oil and natural gas producers in the region.

Despite greatly reduced federal predictions for recoverable resources (see Shale Daily,May 21), California’s Monterey Shale will eventually live up to all of its previous hype unless public policy stops its full development, an official with the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) told an industry gathering in Bakersfield on Tuesday.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. plans to move its north region headquarters next year from Pittsburgh, PA, to North Fayette, PA, farther from the city’s downtown, which is home to other regional exploration and production companies, in favor of a larger space for its growing staff. Cabot first brought more staff to Pittsburgh in 2009. Since then, its office has grown from about 30 employees to nearly 90, according to a company spokesman. Cabot’s new location is about 16 miles from downtown Pittsburgh, but its new building is roughly 16,000 square-feet bigger. Cabot, which has its corporate headquarters in Houston, continues to increase production in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, where it’s the state’s second-largest producer, with more than 1 Bcf/d in annual production (see Shale Daily,Aug. 19).

Appalachian heavyweight Antero Resources Corp. on Monday announced the terms of its midstream master limited partnership (MLP), revealing that it would offer investors and underwriters more than 43 million units, which would earn it nearly $1 billion at the high end of its $19-21 offering.

Northern Border Pipeline Co. is testing the shipper interest in a proposed 16-inch diameter, 295 MMcf/d capacity pipeline lateral from the newly expanded Hess Corp. Tioga natural gas processing plant in northwest North Dakota. It is conducting an open season through Nov. 26.

Midcontinent oil operator Continental Resources Inc. has worked out a joint development agreement (JDA) with a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Group — its first in the United States — to drill for natural gas in the legacy Cana-Woodford Shale holdings in Western Oklahoma.

Oneok Partners LP is buying Texas natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines and related assets from affiliates of Chevron Corp. for $800 million.

Global oil prices will need to decline over the coming year for U.S. shale oil production to slow down, Goldman Sachs analysts said Monday in cutting forecasts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent prices through 2015.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. has grown its Eagle Ford Shale position by 6,820 net acres to more than 81,000 and added 93 net wells to its drilling inventory of more than 915 net locations in the play through a $243 million cash deal with Eagle Ford Minerals LLC, the Houston-based company said Monday.