Gazprom Neft has conducted what it says is the first hydraulic fracturing ever on Russia’s Yamal Pensinsula at geologically complex Novoport oil and gas condensate field.

Depressurization in a pioneering test flow of methane from hydrates offshore Japan earlier this year involved a specially designed electric submersible pump system able to separate methane from water and move them to the drillship through separate production strings (OGJ Online, Mar. 12, 2013).

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. said it is using natural gas from the Marcellus shale in Susquehanna County, Pa., to fracture wells via dual-fuel technology in a process that can displace as much as 70% of the diesel fuel traditionally used to operate hydraulic fracturing equipment.

The US Department of the Interior released a revised proposal to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public and Indian lands that it said would maintain important safety standards, improve integration with existing state and tribal rules, and increase flexibility for oil and gas producers.

Bitumen will claim an increased share of sharply higher oil production in Alberta over the next 10 years, according to the provincial Energy Resources Conservation Board.

Canada’s minister of natural resources has warned officials of the European Union against “discriminatory treatment” of fuels made from products of Canadian oil sands.

Canada’s National Energy Board granted a commercial discovery declaration to Lone Pine Resources Inc., Calgary, with respect to the Upper and Lower Besa River shale intervals in the Pointed Mountain field area of the Liard basin in western Northwest Territories.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP, Houston, will build a 150-MMcfd cryogenic natural gas processing plant near Beckville in Panola County, Tex., the company has announced, estimating the cost of the project at $140 million.

Oil production from 14 of the most active counties in the South Texas Eagle Ford shale reached 28 MMbbl in the last year. Gas production doubled from the previous year to 271 bcf, and for the same period, condensate tripled to 21 MMbbl, according to a March report from the Eagle Ford Task Force, which was established by the Texas Railroad Commission.

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Unconventional Oil & Gas Report, a publication of local news from many places.