Shale Daily

With Russian conventional oil and gas production in natural decline, producers have turned, in part, to West Siberia and unconventional plays there that are said to be similar in ways to the Bakken Shale and Permian Basin in the United States. Ruspetro plc is among those looking at the Bazhenov Shale.

Midstream players have allocated a lot of capital to boost crude takeaway and/or natural gas processing capacity in the renewed Permian Basin, and if production continues to accelerate, several billion more could be directed to the region to meet the growing needs of producers, according to an analysis by Raymond James & Associates Inc.

The cost of northwestern Canadian shale gas will drop to competitive levels as drilling intensifies from scattered field trials into concentrated commercial development, says the pipeline grid for British Columbia and Alberta.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) expects to begin releasing quarterly oil and gas production reports in February, after a push from investors, members of the agency itself and other industry stakeholders, who called for more up-to-date figures on the pace of development in the Utica shale play last year.

FERC has cleared the way for Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) to offer westbound capacity on part of its system from the Marcellus/Utica region without the threat of having to match for existing west-to-east customers the lower rates it is charging for the new service.

Horizontal drilling continues at a steady pace in West Virginia, where operators are concentrating on a wet gas zone in the Marcellus formation, located in the north-central part of the state and reaching into its panhandle.

Counties in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas were four of the state’s top five oil-producing counties during September, while North Texas counties were four of the top five natural gas producers, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).

A study by France’s Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST) concludes that propane stimulation is a “promising alternative” to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) — which is banned in the country — according to eCORP Stimulation Technologies.

In a report released Tuesday on the Obama administration’s regulatory priorities for the upcoming year, the Interior Department cited revising “antiquated” hydraulic fracturing (fracking) regulations as one of its top priorities, as well as new draft rules to regulate venting and flaring on federal and Indian lands, and the valuation of royalties for oil shale development.