Given the demanding schedules oil and gas professionals must maintain, it is easy to lose sight of the positive progress the industry continues to make—and what these collective efforts, aimed at safely producing clean-burning domestic natural gas, mean for the Northeastern US and the country as a whole.

CHENANGO COUNTY, NY—With no clear regulatory decision on the books, New York's local municipalities are enforcing constitutional rights to limit drilling activity within their borders.

ALBANY, NY—Marcellus Shale production reached 7 bcfd, surpassing the Haynesville to become the largest gas producing play in the US, according to a recent report from IHS.

Williams Partners LP, Tulsa, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have joined to form Three Rivers Midstream, a company to provide gas gathering and gas processing for production in northwest Pennsylvania. The venture will invest in both wet-gas handling infrastructure and dry-gas infrastructure serving Marcellus and Utica shale wells.

Continued success of a drilling program mainly in the Marcellus shale has led Range Resources Corp., Fort Worth, to year-to-year production increases of 52% for oil and condensate, 22% for natural gas liquids, and 34% for natural gas in the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2013, the company said.

A group of energy companies, environmental organizations, and philanthropic foundations collaborated to form a center to provide Appalachian basin shale gas producers with an independent, third-party certification process for shale development, organizers announced at a news conference in Pittsburgh.

Recent pipeline expansions have helped the Marcellus shale play reach a production rate of more than 7 bcfd to become the largest US gas-producing play, according to a new IHS Herold Marcellus Shale Company Play Analysis.

Williams Cos., Tulsa, and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP have proposed a joint-venture NGL pipeline system to transport Marcellus and Utica shale mixed NGLs to US Gulf Coast petrochemical and export markets.

Western Gas Partners LP, an Anadarko Petroleum Corp.-owned master limited partnership, agreed to acquire a 33.75% interest in the Liberty and Rome gas gathering systems from Anadarko and a 33.75% interest in the Larry’s Creek, Seely, and Warrensville gas gathering systems from an affiliate of Chesapeake Energy Corp.

A new study of the Barnett shale foresees reliable supply with slowly declining production through the year 2030, said the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of Texas at Austin and financed by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a New York philanthropic grant-making institution.

US President Barack Obama proposed using some federal oil and gas revenue to fund an energy security trust that would support “research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.”

Caerus Oil & Gas LLC plans to buy what PDC Energy Inc. considers its noncore Colorado natural gas assets for $200 million.