Rex Energy says that they sold 79,000 acres of holdings over the New Albany Shale in Indiana for $8.4 million. They plan to use the money on their Marcellus Shale exploration projects. More at Market Watch.

Jack Dahl, Director of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation said that his agency is working on a Marcellus Shale generic environmental impact statement. More information at the Daily Star.

Midstream Gas Services Corporation, owned by Chesapeake Energy, was in a dispute with landowners over right-of-way access across their land. The case was scheduled for court on August 21 but settled when the homeowner decided that it was better to accept the same payment ($150/linear foot) for right-of-way access than fight Midstream in court. More at the Star-Telegram website.

A story in CNN/Living about a church who reaped a bonanza from Barnett Shale gas beneath their property. Also a video on the “Urban Drilling Bonanza” that features the church pastor.

Trivello Energy Corporation, Apache Corporation and Encana have been drilling the Muskwa Shale in Northeastern British Columbia. More in a story at Stockhouse.com.

The Marcellus Shale made “Business Story of the Day” on the National Public Radio website. You can go to their website and listen to a podcast titled “Digging for Gas in New York“.

Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania says the the Marcellus Shale in northeastern Pennsylvania is a “potential gold rush”. He also has numerous environmental concerns with drilling in the Marcellus. More in the Times-Tribune.

Getting natural gas out of the Haynesville Shale is no easy matter. It is over two miles down, tied up in tiny fractures and adsorbed onto mineral and organic particles in the tight pore spaces of a shale. Then there is the myriad of problems related to permitting, water supplies, gas line right-of-ways and more. An article in the ShreveportTimes explores these issues.

Oil has been “king” across Texas since the dawn of drilling in that state. Within the past few years natural gas has come on so strong in East Texas that some believe that it has taken the crown away from oil. More at News-Journal.

Prices of both natural gas and crude oil have dropped sharply since July 1. Oil from about $145/barrel to about $110/barrel and natural gas futures from about $13.60 to just under $8.00. A price graph for these commodities shows that natural gas has dropped disproportionately to crude. Discussion of the trend at Bloomberg.com.

Here is an article that chronicles the first seven weeks in the life of a Barnett Shale natural gas well, starting with the set-up of the drill rig at the pad and progressing through connection of the well to a natural gas pipeline. Posted at the Fort Worth Business Press.

The flowback water produced during the hydrofracing of Barnett Shale gas wells is extremely salty and sometimes contains some drilling chemicals. The water is difficult to treat and must be disposed of. The current practice is to inject the water into deep rock formations. The Shreveport Times has a question and answer article about this topic.

The Barnett Shale is the first unconventional gas shale to produce enormous quantities of gas. Some important questions include: How long will the wells produce? How long will the play continue? A Reuters article explores these questions and more.

There is growing amount of interest in the St. Lawrence Lowlands area of Quebec, Canada. Companies are interested in the Utica Shale on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. More information and map at Stockhouse.com.

The huge gas plays located in the southern states and Appalachia are going to bring a huge supply of gas into the eastern and southern markets. But, will the people in Oregon see their gas bills go down? Maybe or maybe not. See an article at OregonLive.com.