Barnett Shale

Range Resources, Talon Oil & Gas announce Barnett property deals

Range Resources said Wednesday that it will sell all its holdings in the Barnett Shale and use the cash to invest in more profitable ventures elsewhere. The sale by Fort Worth-based Range, which also reported a loss of $8.2 million, or 5 cents a share, is part of a strategy to invest more heavily in fields that can also produce crude oil or natural gas liquids, which are getting higher prices than natural gas.

Also Wednesday, EnerVest Ltd. said it agreed to pay $967 million for the Barnett Shale properties of Dallas-based Talon Oil & Gas. EnerVest, based in Houston, said the properties produce 87 million cubic feet of gas a day from 212 wells and have 1.1 trillion cubic feet of reserves. EnerVest expects to close the transaction by year's end.

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-- Bob Cox

Tillman, Fox launch ShaleTest.org

A group of drilling activists announced the launch of a new nonprofit Tuesday aimed at funding and conducting environmental testing in communities where urban drilling is taking place.

“There just simply is not enough data out there,” said Dish Mayor Calvin Tillman, in presenting ShaleTest.org at a press conference Tuesday in downtown Fort Worth.

The group plans to fund air and water tests through donations and grants and focus much of their efforts on low-income communities where residents can’t afford to fund private testing, Tillman said. A major goal of the initiative is to test in areas before drilling begins so that homeowners have a baseline to compare the air and water afterward.

The organization is soliciting requests for air and water testing at its website, ShaleTest.org.

Tillman said test results will be made public on a "macro level" but that individual results may not be released if a homeowner has privacy concerns.

The group was scheduled to hold a screening of the anti-drilling documentary Gasland as a fundraiser Tuesday night in Fort Worth. Josh Fox, the documentary’s creator, serves as an adviser to the group.

-Aman Batheja

Tarrant pipeline study sees room for improvement

A report released Thursday on Fort Worth's growing natural gas pipeline system warned that regulatory loopholes could cause problems as companies build more pipelines in urban communities, but also commended state and city measures governing the lines.

The Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations funded the study out of a $48,000 grant it received last year from the U.S. Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Fort Worth is in the midst of a pipeline building boom because of drilling in the Barnett Shale natural gas field. Texas already has the largest gas pipeline network in the country.

Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, and Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline engineer and consultant, both from Washington state, spent months researching records from local entities, the Texas Railroad Commission and federal agencies to document the pros and cons of the area's pipeline system.

Weimer said their research showed that most local pipelines have been installed in unpopulated areas, but as drilling continues "it'll be harder and harder to totally avoid neighborhoods."

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-- Aman Batheja

Pipeline study results coming out tonight

The Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations will present research into the state of natural gas pipelines tonight at a public meeting. Last year, the league received a $48,000 grant from the U.S Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to fund a study and local education effort related to pipelines. Part of the grant went toward hiring two pipeline consultants from Washington who led the research and are the lead authors of the report.

The report looks at how Texas regulates pipelines, the effect of local pipelines on land development, and how pipelines affect safety and the environment.

The event is at 7 p.m. in Fellowship Hall at University Christian Church, 2720 S. University Drive.

-- Aman Batheja

State takes action on UTA drill site

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is pursuing a "nuisance violation" against Carrizo Oil & Gas, even though the agency acknowledged it has never measured emissions over allowable levels from the site, whose 22 wells are the most on a single pad site in the Barnett Shale. The Oct. 5 action followed dozens of complaints about odors, many from an Arlington resident whose extreme chemical sensitivities have been aggravated by drilling activities at the site, according to her physician. Carrizo said it will appeal what it said may be an "unprecedented" move and is in discussions with the agency. Read more here.

-- Jack Z. Smith

Pipeline may contribute to flooding, city says

A natural gas pipeline next to a Fort Worth woman’s home may be blocking stagnant pools of floodwater from draining, city officials say. Mary Kelleher’s property on Randol Mill Road, east of East Loop 820, was one of many that flooded last month during Tropical Storm Hermine. Weeks later, the pools of water have yet to fully subside. Kelleher believes that a 30-inch natural gas pipeline, which Enterprise Products Partners installed next to her home this year,  prevents proper drainage. After investigating the matter for weeks, city officials think she might be right. And Enterprise is pledging to cooperate fully with the city.

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-- Aman Batheja

Low gas prices a signal to slow drilling, Devon chairman says

For U.S. energy producers, high-priced $11 natural gas is “kind of like a Saturday night drunk,” Devon Energy Executive Chairman Larry Nichols said at the opening session of the Unconventional Gas International Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday afternoon. “It may feel good at the time,” he said, but it isn’t a sustainable high.

Just as an $11 price is too high to persist, today’s current market prices of about $3.75 are too low for the industry to thrive and maintain strong natural gas production in the long term, said Nichols, who stepped down this year from his longtime position as CEO of Oklahoma City-based Devon, the leading producer in North Texas’ gas-rich Barnett Shale.

Even in the face of low gas prices, domestic energy producers have continued to do substantial drilling, particularly in major unconventional gas plays such as the Barnett, the Eagle Ford Shale in South and Central Texas, the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and East Texas, and the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian regionof the eastern U.S.

By continuing to drill despite weak prices, “we’ve been ignoring the free market,” Nichols said. But today’s depressed prices represent “the free market ... sending us a very powerful signal” that there is an oversupply of gas, he said.

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-- Jack Z. Smith