Shale Daily

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) reported a drastic improvement in horizontal well production data on Tuesday, showing a major bump in third quarter wet gas and oil production in the Utica Shale after largely disappointing figures on 2012 production it released under old annual reporting requirements in May.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had a team of investigators on the scene Tuesday near Casselton, ND, where a BNSF train carrying crude oil smashed into another train that had derailed earlier, setting off explosions and fires in nine tanker cars.

The new year in North Dakota looks like it will be another record-breaker in terms of oil and natural gas production levels, along with a few surprises that may include adding another shale formation to the prolific Bakken/Three Forks plays.

The University of Cincinnati and Oregon State University are partnering on a new air quality study to better understand the environmental impacts of unconventional oil and gas operations in Carroll County, Ohio, which has seen the most drilling activity in the state.

EnerJex Resources Inc. has doubled its acreage position in its Mississippian Oil Project from 2,840 gross (2,556 net) acres to 6,370 gross (5,267 net) acres near the company’s operations in Woodson County, KS.

Rigs and drilling permits in the Barnett Shale — the original dry shale gas play — have been dropping like flies, while the well count has continued to rise and dry gas production has demonstrated a staying power that one observer calls “amazing.”

In a strategy aimed at flexibility and better meeting market demands, Alberta-based Husky Energy Inc. plans to make a $300 million investment in upgrades at its Lima Refinery in northwest Ohio that would enable it to process heavy crude oil from Western Canada.

Vanguard Natural Resources LLC is laying down $581 million for natural gas-weighted properties in southwestern Wyoming, marking a change in strategy to compete for more mature production and proven undeveloped acreage.

A survey of 1,000 U.S. citizens that set out to gauge where the public stands on the use of and issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking) found “an American populace that is largely unaware of and undecided about the issue,” the study’s authors said.