Shale Daily

Eagle Ford Shale activities will continue to power growth at Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. this year, management told analysts Tuesday, while the company remains “very encouraged” by its first well results in the Utica Shale in Ohio. One analyst suggested that Niobrara assets could be jettisoned with proceeds redeployed to South Texas.

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) is considering increasing oil and natural gas drilling setbacks from homes beyond the current 350-foot requirement. There is nothing on the current WOGCC agenda, however.

As production continues to soar in Pennsylvania and it remains the only state in the country without a tax on oil and gas extraction, lawmakers are once again considering a severance tax that could find traction sooner rather than later.

Jim Scheel has been appointed senior vice president (SVP) of Williams’ Northeast gathering and processing unit and takes over responsibility for the midstream business in the Marcellus/Utica shale regions, the Tulsa operator said.Frank Billings, who formerly helmed the midstream unit, was named SVP of corporate strategic development. “As the build-out of our gathering and processing business in the Marcellus-Utica advances, we’re at a point where we realize the greatest value by having Northeast-region leadership with deep operational experience,” said CEO Alan Armstrong. Williams has about $3.3 billion in projects through 2015 underway to increase takeaway and processing capacity in the Northeast.

Oilfield services companies operating in North America have no plans to scale back research and development (R&D) into their ever-better software and hardware offerings, and some are eyeing 3D printing as an option for the future.

Mayors from five cities across the country are joining calls for greater regulatory oversight of the nation’s railways, following a spate of accidents in Canada and the U.S. involving train cars carrying crude oil.

The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said the cartel doesn’t feel threatened by the United States producing ever-increasing volumes of shale oil, and one OPEC member said it was interested in possibly importing natural gas from North America.

Dominion Transmission (DTI) on Monday estimated North-to-South capacity for nominations on its system for Feb. 1 at 850,000 Dth/d. The volume may be adjusted “on a daily or periodic basis as required by operational conditions,” the company said in an informational posting.

Sanchez Energy Corp., which is focused exclusively on the Eagle Ford Shale and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), kicked its total production volumes up nine-fold for the fourth quarter, more than seven-fold for the year, and saw gas production increase more than 3,000% in the fourth quarter.