Shale Daily

Eight out of nine major national and regional hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) service providers have agreed to submit “timely and complete information” to help the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct its study on hydrofracking and its impact on drinking water quality, the EPA said Tuesday. Halliburton, after failing to comply with the agency’s voluntary requests for information, has been subpoenaed.

The U.S. State Department signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that will allow the two countries to share technical expertise on shale gas resources. Preliminary estimates by India’s Association of Petroleum Geologists indicate that India’s shale gas reserves may be larger than its proven conventional gas deposits. The MOU would help India assess its shale gas resources and help to train Indian personnel. As part of the agreement, the U.S. Geological Survey plans to study India’s shale gas resources. The United States also would help India prepare for its first shale gas auction, which is scheduled to be held by the end of 2011.

In this “age of unconventionals,” shale gas and oil producers have to be as open as possible about their drilling operations, an ExxonMobil Corp. executive said last week.

Lower natural gas prices will have an effect on National Fuel Gas’ (NFG) bottom line in 2011, but the company will continue to ramp up its drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale during the year, CEO David F. Smith said during a conference call with financial analysts Friday.

Midstream operator AltaGas Ltd., based in Calgary, said Thursday it plans to build a 120 MMcf/d gas processing facility and associated gathering system in the Gordondale area of the Montney Shale in British Columbia.

Stung by a recent fine for allowing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids to contaminate a watershed, Atlas Resources has set a goal of 100% reuse of flowback and production brine water as part of a strategy it believes is fundamental to sustainable operations in the Marcellus Shale.

A move by shale gas operators to use horizontal drilling techniques in liquids plays may be the impetus in setting a new all-time record for horizontal drilling. A total of 943 horizontal rigs were in operation during the week ending Nov. 5, according to statistics compiled by Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI).

Gas-on-gas competition is a concept long established in the industry. How about shale-on-shale competition?

The North American shales have been good to Devon Energy Corp. as evidenced by the company’s strong 3Q2010 earnings revealed this week. The Oklahoma City-based exploration and production (E&P) company said it set new quarterly production records in both its Barnett and Cana-Woodford shale plays.