Shale Daily

Oil and gas companies are claiming too many trade secret exemptions in FracFocus disclosures of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and the registry contains several errors, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) task force charged with reviewing the website.

Halcon Resources Corp. said Tuesday that its Utica Shale drilling program is on hold pending the results of two wells, with no plans to move a rig into the play this year until more data is on hand.

Natural gas exploration is making headway in pockets around the world thanks to U.S. technology, but it’s unlikely to replace coal on a global basis anytime soon, BHP Billiton Ltd.’s chief said Tuesday.

North Dakota’s top oil and natural gas regulator on Monday outlined a new effort by the state to combat associated gas flaring at the wellhead as the amounts surged in the most recent production report.

A Canadian company has submitted plans to a Berks County, PA, township to construct a gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility on 63 acres to produce gasoline and propane.

A unit of Houston-based Southwestern Energy Production Co. said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to buy about 312,000 acres in northwest Colorado’s Niobrara Shale formation from Quicksilver Resources Inc. and Royal Dutch Shell’s SWEPI LP (Shell Western E&P). The price was $180 million, subject to closing conditions, the companies said.

Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR) announced Wednesday that it has closed on a $2 billion fund focused on development of unconventional oil and gas resources in North America.

Bill Klessewill step down as CEO of Valero Energy Corp. May 1, but will remain a director and chairman of the board, the San Antonio-based company said. Klesse, who has spent his entire 45-year career with Valero and its predecessor companies, became CEO in 2005 and was named chairman of the board in 2007. Joe Gorder, who was elected president and COO in 2012, will become CEO effective May 1. He was immediately elected to the board of directors. During his 27 years with Valero, Gorder has held positions including executive vice president, chief commercial officer and president of Valero Europe; executive vice president-Marketing and Supply; and senior vice president for Corporate Development and Strategic Planning.

A narrowly passed ballot measure last November banning the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Colorado city of Broomfield was upheld by a state district court ruling last Thursday.