Shale Daily

With higher natural gas liquids (NGL) prices relative to natural gas, a continued surge in output from the gas shale plays and cryogenic gas processing technologies, new infrastructure continues to be in high demand for the U.S. liquids market, according to a report by Bentek Energy LLC.

In the first approval of its kind in the state, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) last week signed off on a request bythe city of Warren, OH, to accept pre-treated natural gas well wastewater.

Shares of Houston-based Gastar Exploration Ltd. plunged Tuesday after the company said it intends to offer 12,000,000 common shares in an underwritten offering.

Chief Oil & Gas LLC, which was among the first companies to voluntarily disclose the chemicals used in their fracking operations, recently eliminated the storage of discarded drilling fluid in open reserve pits at drilling sites.

A study commissioned by the state of Alaska paints a picture of rising costs in North American shale gas plays and higher gas prices in the years ahead that lend support to the case for a gas pipeline from the state’s North Slope to serve Lower 48 markets.

Canada’s Corridor Resources Inc. saw its stock lose almost one-third of its value on Monday after announcing “unexpected and perplexing” results from a shale gas appraisal program in New Brunswick.

With shipper contracts expiring in 2015, Alliance Pipeline Ltd. plans to develop receipt and short-haul services that take advantage of the pipeline’s location near developing gas shale plays in British Columbia and North Dakota, Alliance said. The new offerings will complement the pipeline’s “bullet line” service from Western Canada to Chicago, as well as provide hub services such as the Natural Gas Exchange and the Alliance Chicago Exchange project.

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. — which makes a specialty of targeting unconventional reservoirs, including gas shales — said more than half of its capital budget for 2011 of $455 million will be spent in Texas.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was called to task last week by House Republicans from two separate committees who want him to explain comments indicating natural gas drillers may be required to disclose hydraulic fracturing (fracking) chemicals used to develop shale and tight gas on public lands.