From Energy in Depth, today’s shale news:

The Rise Of Saudi Texas: Shale And Farewell To OPEC. Investor’s Business Daily. Production data for April show how fracking has shattered not only the shale rock in formations like Texas’ Eagle Ford and Permian Basin but also the myths of "peak oil" and petroleum as an energy source of the past.
 
Energy Secretary Defends Hydraulic Fracturing. Energy Unites, EID’s Dana Bohan. The President’s Climate Action Plan this week reinforced the important role natural gas production will continue to play in America’s energy future. And according to Ernest Moniz, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, the states are critical in making sure this development is properly carried out.
 
China a potential huge market for U.S. producers. E&E News (sub. req’d). "Shale alone, LNG alone, conventional gas alone, gasification into synthetic gas alone will not be enough to basically quench the thirst of the Chinese economy," said Liebert, vice president and general manager for gas processing and hydrogen at UOP. "It’s going to be a multipronged approach."
 
Groups hail rebuke of SEC disclosure rule. Oil & Gas Journal. A business coalition that included the American Petroleum Institute and Independent Petroleum Association of America challenged the requirement in court, saying disclosure of the commercially sensitive information would hurt the abilities of affected companies to compete globally.
 
Guess Who’s Been Investing in the US Shale Boom? Motley Fool. In the U.S., the widespread application of advanced drilling technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has sparked a domestic oil and gas boom whose reverberations are being felt the world over.
 
Exco to Buy Chesapeake Shale Assets for $1 Billion. Bloomberg. Exco Resources Inc. (XCO), the Dallas-based energy producer whose market value has dropped by more than half since 2010, agreed to buy Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) assets in the Eagle Ford and Haynesville shale formations for about $1 billion.
 
Houston: we had liftoff. Industrial Minerals. Oilfield mineral demand is set to rise as global tight oil and shale gas developments branch out across the globe.
 
Here Are Three Problems With Obama’s Climate Proposal. Investor’s Business Daily, Editorial. In his speech, Obama did acknowledge that America has become the world’s No. 1 natural gas producer and that clean natural gas is providing cheap power while helping to reduce carbon emissions.

INTERNATIONAL

Schlumberger opens reservoir lab in China to support shale. Platts. US oil services company Schlumberger on Wednesday announced the opening of a reservoir laboratory in China’s central Sichuan province to help support expanding activity in unconventional shale development.
 
Shale explorer San Leon signs farm-out deal; shares rise. Reuters. Poland-focused shale explorer San Leon Energy Plc said it would farm out its oilfield in the Baltic basin in Poland to privately owned Wisent Oil and Gas, sending its shares up by as much as 18.5 percent.
 
Browse Basin development ‘at forefront’ of LNG future, says Santos. Courier Mail. The Browse Basin is pivotal to the nation’s future gas production amid expectations that global demand will double within 17 years, a senior energy figure says.
 
Boris backs HF in London. Utility Week. In a letter seen by Utility Week, Boris Johnson said: "It is time for maximum boldness in energy supply."  He added: "If reserves of shale can be exploited in London we should leave no stone unturned, or unfracked, in the cause of keeping the lights on."
 
Brazil in global road show to woo pre-salt, shale investors. Business News Americas. Brazil’s oil and gas regulator ANP has embarked on a global roadshow to promote the country’s first pre-salt oil and shale gas rounds later this month.
 
China to miss targets for shale development. Financial Times. China is unlikely to meet its 2015 target for shale gas production after slower than expected development of initial shale gasfields, according to energy executives and analysts, throwing into question the prospects of a resource critical to China’s energy future.

COLORADO

Colorado Governor Says NatGas Key to State’s Energy Strategy. NGI’s Shale Daily (sub req’d). Natural gas is a critical part of Colorado’s "all of the above" energy strategy, and it is encouraging its increased development, including the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), in a safe and responsible way that can be managed between government and industry, said Gov. John Hickenlooper as part of a Western Governors’ Association (WGA) three-part energy report.
 
Colo. brewers raise HF concerns. E&E News (sub. req’d). 26 small brewers in Colorado are saying their industry could be affected by fracking, a drilling technique that pumps water, sand and chemicals down well bores to break apart rock and release trapped oil and gas.
 
MICHIGAN

Mich. fires up new natural gas plant. E&E News (sub. req’d). The Lansing Board of Water & Light’s $182 million facility aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution by burning natural gas rather than coal. The BWL estimated the new plant will offset 350,000 tons of coal per year.

NORTH DAKOTA

Bakken crude continues to slip relative to WTI. Market Realist. A huge surge in oil production in North Dakota has caused differentials between Bakken crude and WTI Midland crude to fluctuate and blow out at several points over the past several years as takeaway structure had lagged production.

NORTHEAST

Cuomo: Natural gas ‘effective,’ but questions persist. Democrat and Chronicle. Late last month, President Barack Obama called natural gas an “effective transition fuel” during a speech on climate change. When asked Tuesday about Obama’s comment, Cuomo — whose administration is weighing whether to allow hydrofracking for natural gas — said he generally agreed.
 
Westmoreland has $38M surplus on books. Tribune Live. While spending was down, revenues jumped last year as a result of funding the county received in December from fees related to Marcellus shale drilling. The county received $3.2 million from the impact fees.
 
DCNR gets most of its coin from industry fees. Philadelphia Inquirer. The current budget, passed Sunday, shows that the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources no longer gets most of its money from the state general fund. It now gets the bulk of its operating revenue from a fund swollen by money from natural gas development.
 
Pittsburgh airport drilling could yield high royalties. Tribune Live. The Allegheny County Airport Authority could be in line to receive a bigger payout from gas royalties than initially thought because land at Pittsburgh International Airport is likely to produce more gas than predicted, Allegheny County and Consol Energy officials said Tuesday.
 
Governor, challenger clash on river basin drilling. E&E News (sub. req’d). Pennsylvania politicians are sparring over the future of natural gas development in the Delaware River Basin, a protected area where drilling is currently not allowed.

OHIO
 
Magnum Hunter Multi-Well Pad to Target Utica, Marcellus. NGI Shale Daily (sub. req’d). A multi-pad drilling project to test Marcellus and Utica formations in southern Ohio may answer some of the lingering questions about the real resource potential of the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale, an analyst said Tuesday.
 
Ohio Accepted More Wastewater in 2012, But Now On Decline. NGI’s Shale Daily (sub req’d). Injection wells in Ohio handled more wastewater from oil and gas drilling in 2012, especially from out-of-state sources in the Marcellus and Utica shales, but they are on pace to handle less of the material in 2013.

TEXAS

Oil field catering will be a growing business in the Cline. Abilene Repoter-News. With an expected influx of perhaps thousands of workers, area restaurants are gearing up for what’s to come with the Cline Shale oil boom.
 
ZaZa Energy unloads 10,300 acres of Eagle Ford holdings. San Antonio Business Journal. Houston-based ZaZa Energy Corp. said it will sell 10,300 acres in South Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale formation for $28.8 million.
 
Oil transporter Bridger secures $300M for growth, acquisitions. Dallas Business Journal. Midstream giant Bridger, LLC announced a partnership with Riverstone Holdings, LLC worth $300 million on Tuesday.