Natural Gas
Shale Law Weekly Review – March 9, 2020
Production and Operation: Pennsylvania Quarterly Natural Gas Report Shows Continued Increase in Production
On February 26, 2020, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office released the Natural Gas Production Report for the fourth quarter of 2019. While the report shows an overall increase in production from the fourth quarter in 2018, the 7.6 percent increase equates to the “lowest growth rate in over two years.” More specific data shows that all of the growth comes from wells that were spudded in 2018. The number of horizontal wells increased by 8.3 percent in the last year, and horizontal production increased by 26.8 percent in […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – December 16, 2019
Public Lands: BLM Issues Decision on Environmental Impact Statement for Bakersfield
On December 13, 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued the final decision on the Hydraulic Fracturing Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Bakersfield Field Office planning area in California. The supplemental EIS states that the analysis showed no notable increase for hydraulic fracturing impacts. In addition, the EIS found that estimated impacts and the program goals were consistent. According to BLM, the EIS was prepared in response to a May 2017 court order. As part of the settlement negotiations, BLM agreed to cease oil and gas […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – December 2, 2019
Public Lands: BLM Publishes Draft Environmental Impact Statement for National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
On November 25, 2019, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published notice of availability of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A) in Alaska. The NPR-A is located on Alaska’s North Slope region and includes 23 million acres. The draft EIS includes four management options with analysis on oil and gas exploration, development, and transportation. One option would include maintaining the current oil and gas leasing acreage of 11.8 million acres. Another option would decrease the amount of land leasing availability to 11.4 […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – October 28, 2019
Pipelines: FERC Orders Immediate Suspension of All Construction Activities Relating to the Mountain Valley Pipeline
On October 15, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a cease work order for certain activities relating to the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline following a stay of the 2017 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Wild Virginia, Inc. v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, No. 19-1866). The court issued the stay on October 11, 2019, to allow FWS and FERC to have a re-consultation to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – July 22, 2019
Post-Production Costs: Court Determines Oil and Gas Company Cannot Deduct Post-Production Costs from State Royalty Payments
On July 11, 2019, the Supreme Court of North Dakota ruled that Newfield Exploration Company (Newfield) could not deduct post-production costs incurred by the company from royalties paid to the state (Newfield Exploration Co. v. State of North Dakota, No. 20190088). Newfield filed the lawsuit to determine whether the royalty payments made to the State of North Dakota were correct after an audit of the company found the royalties were being underpaid according to the lease. Newfield was making royalty payments to the […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – July 15, 2019
Infrastructure: Environmental Group files Lawsuit Against Washington State for Issuing Permit for LNG Facility
On July 9, 2019, the Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma (ACT) filed a Petition for Judicial Review of Agency Action against the Washington State Department of Ecology for issuing a permit for a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility (Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma v. Washington State Dep’t of Ecology). According to the Petition, the Department issued Administrative Order 13764, granting water quality certification for Puget Sound Energy, Inc.’s proposed LNG facility. ACT contends that the Department violated the State Environmental Policies Act by issuing […]
