Shale Daily

Regulators must take a harder line when it comes to natural gas drilling’s effects on Texas’ environment, and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), “long the oil and gas industry’s lapdog, must become a watchdog,” as activity in the Eagle Ford Shale increases, according to a report released Thursday by Earthworks’ Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP).

Quicksilver Resources Inc., which was one of the early entrants into the Horn River Basin of British Columbia (BC), has launched plans to create a midstream natural gas entity to support its 130,000 net-acre project.

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official told a Senate panel earlier this week that the agency is committed to cooperating with states to oversee the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Ahead of a midnight deadline Friday to comment on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) draft water quality amendments, those for and against the proposed changes attempted to make their voices heard by delivering thousands of responses to the commissioners.

Range Resources Corp. and a shale-rich township in southwestern Pennsylvania will enter mediation to resolve their difficulties.

Marcellus Shale operators in Pennsylvania are familiar with the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), the interstate regulatory agencies that manage water resources in eastern and central Pennsylvania, but currently don’t have to deal with a similar organization in the western half of the state. However, that may soon change.

El Paso Corp. has decided to go it alone in developing its profitable Eagle Ford Shale acreage and has scuttled plans to take on a joint venture (JV) partner.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signed the 2011 Shale Reservoir Development Act into law on Wednesday. The measure is designed to protect stakeholders, clarifies the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and modifies the state’s oil and gas laws to address advances in technology.

After rebranding itself last year and finishing a transformation into “a significant resource play company,” SM Energy Co. plans to step up development in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and the Bakken-Three Forks formation while it hopes to sell down Eagle Ford assets, secure a joint venture (JV) partner in the Haynesville Shale and exit the Marcellus Shale.