Devon Energy Corp. received regulatory approval from the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and Alberta Environment and Water to move forward with the $1.3 billion (Can.) Jackfish 3 steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) project, 15 km southeast of Conklin, Alta.

EOG Resources Inc. expects to begin drilling at the Vaca Muerta oil shale in Argentina's Neuquen basin within weeks, EOG Chief Executive Officer Mark Papa said Nov. 30 during an investors presentation at Jefferies 2011 Global Energy Conference in Houston.

Total SA plans to challenge the French government's decision to cancel its exploration permit for a shale gas field in the Montelimar region of southern France.

SilverBirch Energy Corp. announced the filing of a regulatory application and environmental impact assessment for the Frontier bitumen mine, including Equinox, for producing about 277,000 b/d of partially deasphalted bitumen.

US Congress should promptly restore federal funding for the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the State Review of Oil & Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (Stronger), the US Energy Secretary Advisory Board’s Shale Gas Subcommittee urged on Nov. 21.

An investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP will acquire Samson Investment Co., Tulsa, Okla., one of the largest private US exploration and production companies, for $7.2 billion.

The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service has postponed a sale of mineral leases scheduled for the sprawling Wayne National Forest in eastern Ohio for at least 6 months to study surface affects related to hydraulic fracturing.

European production of unconventional gas, especially shale, may someday contribute a large portion of the region’s overall natural gas supply, but that time is a long way off and will be slow in coming, according to several speakers at this week’s European Autumn Gas Conference in Paris.

Two key operators have provided positive assessments of horizontal drilling results in the emerging Niobrara play in giant Wattenberg field in the Denver-Julesburg basin.

The US natural gas industry is working to ensure shale gas is produced in an environmentally safe manner and is working to disclose information that can help minimize public opposition toward shale development, an advisory committee to government said.

Crown Point Ventures Ltd., Calgary, said it will evaluate the Vaca Muerta shale in vertical wellbores as part of its 2012 drilling program in the Neuquen basin in Argentina.