Shale Daily

Three U.S. senators from fossil fuel-rich North Dakota and Wyoming introduced legislation Wednesday to combat associated natural gas flaring at the wellhead on federal and Native American lands.

For the first time since going public in January, senior officials at Rice Energy Inc. on Thursday laid out a development plan that looks as far ahead as 2016 and made a case for why they believe the pure-play Appalachian company is poised for unique growth.

A state legislative committee on Wednesday approved industry-supported rule changes for oil and natural gas drilling in North Dakota, according to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). The changes take effect April 1.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has made a long-awaited decision to hold a special two-day hearing in Lawrence County later this month to gather input from stakeholders about whether Hilcorp Energy Co. should be allowed to create a forced pool drilling unit that would require landowners to share royalties.

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. named John Stumpf senior vice president for development and midstream operations at its natural gas pipeline and services unit, WBI Energy Inc., effective April 1. Stumpf has been MDU’s vice president for strategic planning. In his new position, Stumpf will help develop and implement growth opportunities around midstream operations concentrated in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota at the Dakota Prairie Refining and Proghorn gas processing plants in which MDU holds interests. Stumpf joined MDU in its construction materials unit, Knife River Corp., in 1993.

Newly re-formed Rock Oil Holdings LLC has secured a private equity commitment of up to $250 million from Riverstone Holdings LLC subsidiaries to secure acreage in the Eagle Ford and Utica shales, and the Permian Basin. Company executives previously built a leasehold and associated production in the Eagle Ford, which were sold in separate transactions in 2012 and 2013 to Sabine Oil & Gas LLC and Sanchez Energy Corp. Abraxas Petroleum Corp. in 2010 had partnered in the play with predecessor Blue Stone Oil & Gas LLC (see Shale Daily, Aug. 30, 2010). Affiliate Riverstone Energy Ltd. also has committed $82 million to privately held Fieldwood Energy LLC, which it formed and which is the largest producer in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (see Daily GPI, March 12).

Production from five of the top six major tight/shale oil and natural gas regions in the United States are projected to increase over the next year, reaching totals comparable to nations on the world stage, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

California Gov. Jerry Brown was shouted down by anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) advocates last weekend in Los Angeles at a state Democratic Party meeting in which a majority of the political party attendees forced a call for a ban on the drilling practice as part of the official platform this election year.

Hilcorp Energy Co. was hydraulically fracturing (fracking) one of its wells in the days leading up to a series of minor earthquakes that were reported in Northeast Ohio on Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).