Coats Rose expands oil and gas section

Roger D. Scales, Dan G. Blake Jr., and Jeffrey W. Hodges have joined Coats Rose PC, Houston, in an expansion of the law firm’s oil and gas section. Source: News

EIA: US crude stockpiles gain 4.1 million bbl

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased 4.1 million bbl during the week ended Jan. 6 from the previous week’s total, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Status Report. Source: News

BLM amends oil shale rule to let royalty rates be set lease-by-lease

The US Bureau of Land Management announced final amendments to federal oil share regulations that give the Secretary of the Interior flexibility in setting rates lease-by-lease and require oil shale operations to include environmental protection plans. Source: News

MARKET WATCH: NYMEX February contract settles below $51/bbl

The light, sweet crude oil contract for February delivery dropped more than $1/bbl on the New York market Jan. 10, but prices were trading higher on early Jan. 11 pending release of the weekly US oil and products report. Source: News

Comstock, USG form Haynesville joint development venture

Comstock Resources Inc., Frisco, Tex., and USG Properties Haynesville LLC have agreed to jointly develop certain acreage recently acquired by USG that’s prospective for the Haynesville shale in Louisiana and Texas. Source: News