Shale Daily

Devon Energy Corp. on Wednesday renewed its onshore North American exploration portfolio, dancing away from the one that brought it to the dance — unconventional natural gas — to marry crude oil, a big reason it agreed to spend $6 billion for oily land in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Pennsylvanians remain divided on the issue of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and are uncertain of how safely it can be performed in the Marcellus Shale. But the issue may not be at the forefront of voters’ minds in the 2014 gubernatorial election, according to a pollster from Mercyhurst University.

A report released late Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) appears to show how much shale exploration in the Utica/Point Pleasant formation lifted the state’s historic oil and gas industry in 2012.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) say they have arrived at a simple method to model decline rates of shale natural gas wells in the Barnett Shale that could also be applied to other plays, as well as oil wells in tight formations.

A Denver company has been approved to purchase the assets of embattled D&L Energy Inc., the Youngstown, OH-based company. Former owner Ben. W. Lupo in February was charged with violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.

New Mexico oil and natural gas operators and landowners are challenging in federal court a ban on any type of hydrocarbon drilling in Mora County, a sparsely populated jurisdiction in the northeastern section of the state (see Shale Daily,May 13).

A judge in New Brunswick has rejected an application for an injunction against Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) filed by a First Nations tribe at the center of a violent protest against the company last month.

ZaZa Energy Corp. recently struck a joint venture (JV) deal with Sabine Oil & Gas LLC unit Sabine South Texas LLC to jointly develop its Sweet Home prospect in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Close to 100 additional rigs will be moved to the U.S. onshore through 2014, with about half directed to the Permian Basin, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).