State Rep. Lon Burnam renewed his call for a moratorium on drilling this morning. Get the whole scoop on our PoliTex blog. http://startelegram.typepad.com/politex/ -- Mike Lee [...]
Negotiations are still going on to move a proposed natural gas pipeline out of an East Side neighborhood; but three politicians who represent the area said there are still unresolved questions about what happens when pipelines collide with existing neighborhoods.... [...]
Update: Here's the map of the proposed alternate route. The old route down Carter Avenue is the east-west line at the bottom of the map. The proposed new route would cross I-30 to the north of both gas sites, then... [...]
There's been a lot of discussion about air pollution from natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale, ever since our colleague Chris Vaugh weighed in with his piece about tests at gas wells in West Fort Worth and DISH. For... [...]
The Texas Department of Transportation's Austin office has approved plans for an east-side natural gas line to run down Interstate 30. If the plan gets final approval, it would eliminate the need for a controversial pipeline to run underneath people's...' [...]
For those who are owners of oil and gas mineral rights, there's a new Web site, www.mineralrightsforum.com, It provides information on oil and gas issues, as well as allowing you to ask questions, share photos and videos and create blog... [...]
According to the Mistletoe Heights Neighborhood Association, between 40 and 50 property owners will see their three-year leases signed in late 2006 with Four Sevens start to expire in November and December, depending on when the lease was signed. XTO,... [...]
The always-dependable energy team at the Houston Chronicle has produced yet another look-back at George Mitchell and Mitchell Energy's development of the Barnett Shale. We didn't see any new discoveries, so to speak, in the story, but veteran reporter Tom...' [...]
Chesapeake Energy has spent about $10 billion in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, including $3 billion in lease bonuses to property owners and hundreds of millions more in royalty payments for natural gas production, company CEO Aubrey McClendon said... [...]
The Fort Worth City Council tightened its drilling ordinance last night, requiring a vote for any drillng permits and fracturing ponds in urban villages. This has been under discussion since October. Read below the jump for the latest story, and... [...]
Chesapeake Energy said Thursday that its Barnett Shale production has reached a record 685 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and that it expects moderate annual increases in output through 2011. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake, which has a large... [...]
Discussions were still under way this week to move a controverisal natural gas pipeline out of a neighborhood in East Fort Worth. Meanwhile, two of the owners of the drilling site the pipeline would serve say they’re growing impatient with... [...]
The company has the biggest leases in the watershed, which is in the Catskills mountains. CEO Aubrey McClendon said he won't drill there because of New York state's strict drilling regulations. Read below the jump to see the New York...' [...]
The chief of Schlumberger, the big oilfield services company, said he expects the government will regulate hydraulic fracturing, and wants to be a part of the discussions. Hydraulic fracturing is the technology that made it feasible to recover gas from... [...]
Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Thursday that its gross operated daily production in the Barnett Shale recently exceeded 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, including a "monster" well in Mansfield that peaked at 16.4 million cubic feet per... [...]
The Texas chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners will hold a free educational meeting Tuesdayoct 20 to address questions North Texans still have about production in the Barnett Shale. The event is set for 6 p.m. to 8... [...]
UPDATE: We published a more in-depth story this morning about the plans for the Carter Avenue pipeline. Read it here: http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1689800.html Chesapeake Energy's pipeline subsidiary may be getting ready to build the Carter Avenue pipeline. Carter Avenue became the rallying...' [...]
Jack Smith has an in-depth profile today of Quicksilver Resources, based here in Fort Worth. CEO Rob Darden said that the company's wells near Lake Arlington are expected to produce twice the average for wells in the Barnett Shale --... [...]
There's a lot of outrage in Pennsylvania after Fort Worth-based Range Resources hired away a high-level aide to the governor to help the company with its drilling program in the Marcellus Shale. Read below the jump for an editorial from... [...]
The Barnett Shale may be the granddaddy of shale gas plays -- this is where producers worked out the technology that made it feasible to recover natural gas from unconventional formations. But there seem to be plenty of additions to... [...]
The Clean Skies Alliance, a trade group that lobbies for more use of natural gas, has picked a lawyer who specializes in climate change as its new CEO. The Clean Skies Alliance, closely affiliated with Chesapeake Energy, has lobbied against... [...]
Our colleague Chris Vaughn reported Sunday about the studies linking gas drilling to air pollution. http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1659163.html?storylink=pluck_recommended# Don't expact an end to the debate, though. The drilling industry is adamant that it's not a major source of pollution; environmentalists are just...' [...]
New York's state moratorium on natural gas drilling may soon be lifted, now that the the state environmental agency has finished an environmental impact statement. Upstate New York sits over the Marcellus Shale, a gigantic shale gas field that is... [...]
Our colleague Liz Campbell has the scoop on the two small eathquakes this week in Cleburne: http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1654524.html This is the town where Chesapeake Energy shut down disposal wells are after one of them was linked to the quakes. The company... [...]
Gas prices are going to rise, after a precipitous fall in the last 10 months.. Jack Z. Smith has the story in today's paper: http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1646934.html [...]
We published a story Saturday about air pollution in the tiny town of DISH (population 200). This is not the first time that folks in DISH have raised a ruckus about the natural gas and pipeline industry. The town sits... [...]
One more example of how the Barnett Shale has changed things: The Texas Department of Insurance settled a dispute between title insurance companies and real estate lawyers about whether the title companies have to check the ownership of mineral when... [...]
Chesapeake Energy, which is fighting a lawsuit filed by Burleson property owners who claim the company illegally reneged on a lease agreement that would have benefited 408 households, wants to have the case heard in a Dallas federal court. But... [...]
Update: The Mansfield City Council approved the well site Mansfield Sports Complex by a 6-1 vote. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/1613834.html City officials in Mansfield have spent the summer debating whether and how to allow drilling next tothe Mansfield Sports Complex. The plan would... [...]
Willie Thomas will get his day in court. A claim that the southeast Fort Worth retiree filed based on Glencrest Resources failing to pay him a bonus check for a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling lease is set to be... [...]
Information continues to come out about the safety of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Here's an analysis by an environmental group in the Marcellus Shale. http://www.preservethefingerlakes.com/id16.html Closer to home, here's a Star-Telegram story about fracturing chemicals from last year: Gas-removal... [...]
An attorney told a southwest Fort Worth neighborhood association Tuesday night that a litigation group formed by three Dallas law firms might seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages against energy companies that reached lease agreements with alliances of... [...]
Three Dallas law firms that have formed the North Texas Lease Litigation Group are contending that energy companies are trying to renege on drilling agreements with homeowners' association alliances in North Texas' Barnett Shale. Those agreements are binding leases, the... [...]
Shreveport, which is in the heart of the Haynesville Shale natural gas play, is struggling with some of the same issues that Fort Worth addressed last year: How to write an ordinance that allows natural gas drilling in an urban... [...]
The deal to allow a high-impact natural gas well next to Trinity Park includes some extra provisions -- more noise mitigation, vibration monitoring at the historic Van Zandt Cottage, and a two-year "no drill" provision that will coincide with the... [...]
The City Council will discuss a waiver for a gas well pad on Foch Street at the edge of Trinity Park. Chesapeake Energy's original plan for the site called for a truck route through one of the park's entrances, near... [...]
Pro Publica, the non-profit investigative reporting group, has an update about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. The EPA has found chemicals in people's water wells in Wyoming, which Pro Publica says might lead to more calls to regulate frac-ing.... [...]
Devon Energy Corp. CEO Larry Nichols said Wednesday the company is reducing its natural gas drilling in the short-term until gas prices start to rebound. “We see absolutely no reason to continue to drill at this time and bring natural... [...]
The Haynesville Shale formation in the U.S. South will become the country’s largest source of natural-gas production by 2014 or 2015, Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon said. The formation in East Texas and northwestern Louisiana will, in... [...]
Chesapeake Energy is in talks with four bidders for a $500 million stake in its Barnett Shale properties in North Texas, the company said Wednesday. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake also has letters of intent to put about $1 billion of gas-processing... [...]
Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources is selling 27.5 percent of its leasehold interests in the Alliance area in Tarrant and Denton Counties to the Italian oil company Eni for $280 million in cash. Quicksilver plans to use the proceeds to pay... [...]
Denbury Resources has agreed to sell 60 percent of its natural gas assets in the Barnett Shale in North Texas to Dallas-based Talon Oil & Gas LLC for $270 million. Plano-based Denbury said production from the properties in Tarrant, Parker... [...]
The oil and gas industry launched a lobbying campaign to protect hydraulic fracturing from more federal oversight. Here's the latest, courtesy of the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/07/07greenwire-industry-campaign-targets-hydraulic-fracturing-10572.html And here's a story from late last year about the potential downsides of... [...]
Devon Energy Corp., the largest U.S. oil and natural-gas producer, said it expects output in the Barnett Shale gas formation in North Texas to “crest” in the current quarter. David Hager, executive vice president for exploration and production at Oklahoma... [...]
The number of rigs working in the Barnett Shale increased, just barely, for the second consecutive week, while the U.S. rig count continued to slide. In North Texas, 83 rigs were active, up one from a week earlier and up... [...]
Star-Telegram columnist Mitch Schnurman wrote Sunday on Chesapeake Energy Chairman Aubrey McClendon's 2008 pay package. Here's his introduction: Chesapeake’s Aubrey McClendon messed up big time. The consequences? A huge bonus. Heads, he wins. Tails, shareholders lose. Either way, the chief... [...]
First, property owners in the Barnett Shale had to decide when to lease their mineral rights and for how much. Now, with the recession pushing back drilling projects, some are being asked to sell their royalty payments. The offer: Wait... [...]
The New York times reports that a shareholder lawsuit is seeking information about a $75 million bonus paid to Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon -- despite a big drop in the company's stock price. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/business/29gret.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 [...]
There's been a war of words for the past six months over how much natural gas production contributes to the air pollution in the Dallas Fort Worth region. Al Armendariz, an engineering professor at SMU, and Ramon Alvarez, a researcher... [...]
We've got the latest from Mayor Calvin Tillman, who's been fighting a running battle of letters and words with pipeline companies in the Denton County town of DISH. Loyal readers will remember that DISH, just north of Justin, is at...' [...]
The sharp slowdown in drilling in the Barnett Shale not only means that the big natural gas field will peak earlier than previously expected, but also that most of the major pipelines aimed at moving gas out of the field... [...]
UPDATE: The Greenwood Cemetery site was approved unanimously after more than two hours of debate Tuesday night. Read the whole story here: http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1237184.html Chesapeake's request for a high-impact pad site inside Greenwood Cemetery next to Crestwood Park goes back to...' [...]
Chesapeake Energy said Thursday that a reorganization of its Eastern Division headquarters in Charleston, W.V., would either eliminate or relocate to Oklahoma City 215 of 255 jobs there. Charleston will become a regional field office. The move is expected to... [...]
For the complete Barnett Shale junkie, here's an archive of the Star-Telegram's weekly Barnett Shale Rig Reports dating to when we started publishing them in mid-2007. We'll update this archive every week with the new Rig Report. Click on the...' [...]
Chesapeake Energy should temporarily plug part of an East Fort Worth well that comes too close to unleased property, Texas Railroad Commission examiners say. Click here to read staff writer Jim Fuquay's story. -- Scott Nishimura [...]
Geren and Veasey jointly authored the bill. Click here to read the full story from staff writer Jim Fuquay at star-telegram.com. -- Scott Nishimura [...]
Democratic State Rep. Lon Burnam held a press conference this morning with local citizen activists to announce the filing of six bills aimed at reforming how natural gas drilling is conducted in Tarrant County. A write up of the press... [...]
XTO executives on Thursday voiced what seems to be a growing consensus that production in the Barnett Shale could peak this year or next if the rig count in the big North Texas gas field continues to decline. Barnett Shale... [...]
Chesapeake Energy Chairman Aubrey McClendon said Wednesday that "we think the major shale plays have all been found. We don't believe we're going to see other shale plays like the big four in years to come," referring to the Barnett,... [...]
State Sen Wendy Davis has filed her third Barnett Shale bill. The latest would require operators to use "green completions" to reduce the amount of air pollution -- mostly methane -- that is released before wells are hooked up to... [...]
Chesapeake Energy said Tuesday it is in talks with "several large international oil companies" about a joint venture in the Barnett Shale, where the Oklahoma City-based independent is one of the largest producers. Chesapeake has done similar deals in its... [...]
Parallel Petroleum, a Midland-based producer with a 35 percent stake in about 34,400 acres in the east Fort Worth area with Chesapeake Energy, has struck a deal that calls for Chesapeake to pick up all Parallel's drilling and development commitments... [...]
Troy Tuomey, the president of the Overton West Neighborhood Association, withdrew Thursday as a candidate for Place 3 on the City Council. Tuomey never officially filed for the office, but said in interviews that he was considering running. He said... [...]
The Fort Worth school board will discuss a waiver for a drill site near North Side High school on Tuesday: http://www.boardbook.org/apps/bbv2/temp/48F6B1DB-F60C-E246-66372B9BEF32C8CA.pdf Meanwhile, the Fort Worth City Council discusses two sites, also on Tuesday: Near the Henderson Bazaar: http://www.fortworthgov.org/council_packet/mc_review.asp?ID=11159&councildate=2/10/2009 And on... [...]
Sen. Wendy Davis, late of the Fort Worth City Council, has filed a bill that would require the Texas Department of Transportation to allow gas gathering lines in freeway rights-of-way. This became an issue during the debate over the pipeline... [...]
The city Board of Adjustments closed the loop Wednesday on a proposal to allow a four- to six-unit natural gas compressor station at the corner of Cook's Lane and Interstate 30, turning down the request unanimously. A Chesapeake Energy spokeswoman... [...]
This just in from Chesapeake Energy, whose pipeline division was asking for a zoning variance to put a compressor station at Cooks Lane and Interstate 30: "The application for the Cooks Lane compressor station will be withdrawn prior to the..." [...]
A Colorado environmental group sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month, asking a judge to force the EPA to tighten regulations on the oil and gas industry. (Read the suit here) Ed Ireland, with the Barnett Shale Energy... [...]
A group of residents in Lamar County, outside Paris, won a long-running lawsuit against a natural gas compressor station, according to The Paris News. The residents complained about noise and odors from the compressor station, and the case included testimony... [...]
The University of Texas at Arlington is the beneficiary of unusually strong production from six natural gas wells on its campus. The school said Monday it received a check for $528,495 from Carrizo Oil & Gas, its first royalty payment... [...]
The City Council is likely to toss out the bids for natural gas leases on three tracts of city property because the bonuses that the city was offered were too low. The bids were for a water pump station on... [...]
A new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that high levels of ozone can form in natural gas fields in the dead of winter. Now, anyone who's found themselves wheezing on a hot day knows that ozone... [...]
Click here for a rough Google map of the master drilling plan Chesapeake Energy has proposed for near-south Fort Worth. Chesapeake VP Julie Wilson said the whole thing is contingent on getting city approval for the new well sites. The... [...]
Councilman Joel Burns announced Friday that the well site at TCU would not be drilled, which means in turn that the pipeline through the nearby Westcliff neighborhood is no longer necessary. Here's Burns' news release: In recent months Chesapeake Energy... [...]
The City Council will delay a vote on a pipeline through the neighborhood south of Texas Christian University until March, City Manager Dale Fisseler announced. Chesapeake Energy's pipeline subsidiary has been buying right-of-way for the line along Alton Road, South... [...]
Check out tomorrow's paper for a story on the different bills aimed at fixing state eminent domain laws, particularly when it comes to pipelines in the Barnett Shale. Here's a copy of the main bill, by Rep. Bill Orr of... [...]
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pennsylvania is trying to get a handle on what's in the frac water used for natural gas wells -- and what comes out of the ground once those wells are finished. It's been one of... [...]
Fort Worth officials have been discussing a plan to pipe recycled wastewater to gas drilling sites along the Trinity River east of town -- maybe as far as D-FW Airport. Now comes news that Aqua Pure, the company that has... [...]
City Council members were leaning toward getting rid of an extra setback requirement for gas drilling sites with more than one well. The proposed ordinance would have required multiple well sites to get a special permit that required waivers from... [...]
Glade Road Neighborhood Alliance, representing about 1,500 landowners in northern Hurst, reports that XTO Energy and its land agent, Holland Acquisitions, has returned hundreds of leases that its members signed at formal meetings with the only explanation that they were... [...]
Even after a year of meetings and negotiation, the City Council couldn’t agree on some of the new rules for natural gas drilling. Council members approved most of a new ordinance on drilling, along with resolutions encouraging the state to... [...]
A Lewisville-based blogger reports that residents in his town are getting drilling offers from Chesapeake. The terms are described as "low," but there are no specifics. http://www.whosplayin.com/xoops/html/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=914 Mike Lee [...]
The mayor of DISH, who's been pushing for more local control of natural gas pipelines and compressor stations, says cities representing more than 1 million people (1.1 million with addition of Lewisville) have passed resolutions supporting the town's campaign. Read... [...]
The Shreveport Times, which sits amid the Haynesville Shale, continues its series of stories about the impact of Barnett Shale gas drilling on Fort Worth. We like these stories because they offer a fresh perspective on the Barnett Shale (and... [...]
The revenue-sharing deal for natural gas drilling at Texas Motor Speedway, which has been a source of controversy for more than a year, cleared its first hurdle today. The Fort Worth Sports Authority, a quasi-governmental body, approved a revenue sharing... [...]
The Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a non-profit environmental group, has also drawn up some suggestions and comments about the Fort Worth gas drilling ordinance. Read 'em here: OGAP_Addendum.pdf [...]
Fort Worth city officials is holding the first of two hearings on their new drilling ordinance at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. There's already been quite a bit of comment on the ordinance. The Fort Worth... [...]
The number of active drilling rigs working in the Barnett Shale dipped to 192 as of Friday, down more than 10 rigs from a week earlier. It was the first large week-to-week change in the count since the months-long slide... [...]
The owner of a nursery in Brock has sued XTO Energy over a saltwater spill that is alleged to have killed trees on eight to 10 acres. That's the second saltwater leak in Parker County in the last couple of... [...]
Chesapeake Energy announced Tuesday it will sell 32.5 percent of its 1.8 million acres of Marcellus Shale holdings to StatoilHydro for $1.25 billion in cash and $2.125 billion worth of future drilling costs. The two also will jointly explore for... [...]
The first Barnett Shale Job Fair to be held since falling natural gas prices shut down the local leasing boom is on tap for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Texas Motor Speedway Club, 3545 Lone Star... [...]
The City Council started digging into the competing proposals for Fort Worth's gas drilling ordinance Tuesday. They've got recommendations from the task force that was set up to review the ordinance, a minority report from neighborhood representatives on the task... [...]
Associated Press quotes a Penn State University geologist in a Monday report saying the Marcellus shale region of the Appalachians could yield seven times as much natural gas as he earlier estimated, or several times the estimated size of the... [...]
The Texas Railroad Commission has issued a ruling allowing more than two dozen east Fort Worth landowners who didn’t sign a mineral rights lease to be forcibly included in a drilling plan, a move that gives producers added leverage against... [...]
The latest from Fort Worth South, a group that promotes redevelopment: We just heard from Chesapeake Energy yesterday afternoon that they will hold a public meeting tonight (Thursday) to discuss gas pipeline proposals for the Near Southside. The proposed pipelines... [...]
Twenty-one towns and cities with a combined population of 850,000 have now joined the tiny town of DISH in a campaign to get more control over natural gas pipelines. DISH, formerly known as Clark, is at the intersection of several... [...]
Last week saw an end to the frenzy of mineral-rights leasing that enthralled Tarrant County during the past year but maybe not to charitable contributions tied to the Barnett Shale boom. On Oct. 16, more than 300 people attended 360Northwest... [...]
Folks in Crestwood and North Hi Mount, like a lot of homeowners, were dismayed to learn that their $25,000-an-acre lease proposal was off the table. The new offer: a range of rates, from $4,000 and acre with 18 percent royalties,... [...]
Three days after suspending leasing with the Bedford-Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition, Titan Resources on Wednesday told the big group that "all our efforts to lease mineral interests of members of BC-MRC are now terminated." Titan said it will not accept... [...]
A familiar site at local City Council meetings — angry residents rebuking council members over a natural gas drilling issue — took on a new twist in Colleyville Tuesday night. More than 50 residents urged the council to postpone a... [...]
