BASF Total Petrochemicals LLC (BTP) has completed a revamp of its steam cracker in Port Arthur, Tex., enabling the 1-million-tonne/year facility to process ethane, supply of which is increasing from US shale plays.

Oil and gas production from tight shale formations clearly is a long-term phenomenon and not a short-term trend, Deloitte LLP officials told reporters. The financial services company found growing confidence in unconventional energy resources in a survey it conducted last year, said John England, a vice-chairman and leader of its oil and gas practice.

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.

Double Eagle Pipeline LLC, a 50-50 joint venture of Magellan Midstream Partners and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, has started shipping condensate for Eagle Ford shale producers in Karnes and Live Oak counties, Tex.

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.

San Leon Energy PLC agreed to buy Talisman Energy Inc.’s share of a shale gas joint venture in Poland. Talisman is the second international major oil company to withdraw from Poland, following a decision last year by ExxonMobil Corp. to exit Poland after early results failed to produce commercial wells.

Dallas-based Crosstex Energy companies Crosstex Energy LP and Crosstex Energy Inc. have announced that Crosstex Energy Inc. will invest about $25 million in a third natural gas compression and condensate stabilization plant in the Ohio River Valley.

US House Natural Resources Committee members from both sides of the aisle questioned whether Congress would be willing to fund a federal hydraulic fracturing regulatory regime at the US Bureau of Land Management.

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.

Joint Oil, the Tunisia-Libya offshore authority, has approved a farmout by Sonde Resources Corp., Calgary, of the Joint Oil block in the Mediterranean off the two countries to Viking Exploration & Production Tunisia Ltd., a private company.

EQT Corp. agreed to buy 99,000 net acres in southwestern Pennsylvania and 10 horizontal Marcellus wells in Washington County, Pa., from Chesapeake Energy Corp. and partners.

A private independent oil and gas company with interests in Alabama will purchase the Alabama coalbed methane properties of GeoMet Inc., Houston, for $63.2 million. The buyer’s name has yet to be released.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, has taken delivery of a robotic drilling rig, the fifth rig in its fleet, that it expects to spud a Utica shale well in southeastern Ohio on June 1.

Sveinung Svarte, chief executive officer of Athabasca Oil Corp., Calgary, will function also as president after the departure of Bryan Gould and formation of an executive operational and development committee to be chaired by Ronald Eckhardt, a director.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP is expanding its Sweeny Lateral pipeline running between the Kinder Morgan Crude Condensate (KMCC) pipeline and Phillips 66’s Sweeny refinery in Brazoria County, Tex.