Shale Daily

Pennsylvania is growing more slowly than the rest of the nation, but the expansion of Marcellus Shale natural gas operations will provide significant opportunities to the state in coming years, according to a report issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Copano Energy LLC plans to increase capacity to handle natural gas liquids (NGL) associated with growing gas production from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the midstream company said.

A coalition of 48 House lawmakers led by Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Jared Polis (D-CO) have fired off a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressing their support for the department’s plans to require public disclosure of the chemicals that producers use in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process for development of shale gas.

Natural gas has been turning up in North Dakota water wells for generations, and for the last four years geologists there have been studying its occurrence in observation water wells with the possibility in mind that it could be a viable commercial resource.

Public support for a state-imposed tax on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region remains solid, according to the results of a survey of 800 registered voters conducted between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2.

“Shaley” natural gas producers and Bakken oil explorers should be reporting “lots” of reserves additions as they roll out their year-end 2010 reports, the research team at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) said Friday.

New York’s ban on permitting for drilling operations involving hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has prompted Norway’s Norse Energy Corp. ASA to send notices of force majeure to landowners covering its leased acres, thereby extending its leases and awaiting shale developments under the incoming state administration.

A decision by Encana Corp. to pull out of an investor conference this week ramped up rumors that the natural gas giant may be close to a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to develop its vast British Columbia (BC) shale holdings.

Energy regulators must operate independently of both industry and environmental groups, led only by facts and the rule of law, said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Hanger, who leaves office this month after a tenure of more than two years during which activity in the state’s Marcellus Shale mushroomed.