Shale Daily

Chief Oil & Gas LLC, which in 2005 was the second largest natural gas producer in the Barnett Shale, is showing it can do the same in the Marcellus Shale, reporting that output in Pennsylvania has reached the 100 MMcfe/d mark from 42 wells.

A recently announced acquisition by California-based water handling company Heckmann Corp. is intended to expand the range of water and wastewater services available to producers in the Haynesville Shale in East Texas, and there are plans to take the business to other shale plays.

Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday three-fourths of drilling wastewater haulers that were stopped by troopers late last month were issued citations and 207 trucks were placed out of service due to violations.

If the natural gas industry can grab even 10% of the transportation fuel and electric generation sectors markets as an outlet for burgeoning production coming out of shale plays, it could be on the verge of a golden era, according to Range Resources Corp. CEO John Pinkerton.

Less than two months after gaining a financially able partner to develop some of its Marcellus Shale acreage, Gastar Exploration Ltd. on Wednesday said it would buy another 59,000 net acres in the WestVirginia portion of the play.

Chevron Corp., which had eschewed domestic shale plays in favor of the deepwater, on Tuesday reversed course, agreeing to pay a total of $4.3 billion to acquire Atlas Energy Inc.’s million-acre-plus U.S. shale leasehold.

The natural gas industry has to mount a “relentless campaign” that demonstrates to the stakeholders that “gas is good, gas is good, gas is good,” American Gas Association Chairman Robert C. Skaggs Jr. said last week.

Growing natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Marcellus Shale could support one new pipeline project in the near term and possibly a second in about five years, according to Wells Fargo Securities senior analyst Michael Blum.

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.