Senators from North Texas helped defeat efforts Wednesday May 25, 2011 to water down legislation that would force the disclosure of natural gas drilling chemicals.

Lawmakers who want mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing thought they'd reached a solid agreement with citizens and industry. The House had passed a bill that Republican Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay agreed to sponsor in the Senate calling the disclosure measure a model for the rest of the country. Read more »

Oil climbed Wednesday May 25, 2011 as the dollar weakened against other major currencies. Gas pump prices are still sliding across the country.

A weaker dollar tends to prop up oil and other commodities that are priced in U.S. currency. As the greenback lost ground during the trading session, crude became more affordable for investors holding foreign currency. So the price of oil rose. Read more »

There are a variety of reasons to sell an oil and gas royalty. We have found that most of our customers wish to sell their royalties because they need cash for an unexpected life issue or they recently inherited a royalty from a family member and would prefer a lump sum of cash instead of small checks over a period of time.

Below is a list of reasons people sell oil and gas royalties: Read more »

For now, state geologists are finished with their research in central North Carolina.

After studying 59,000 acres in the Deep River basin for 15 years, they have concluded that Lee, Chatham and Moore counties could produce enough natural gas from shale to make North Carolina self-sufficient for 40 years at current levels of consumption.

"That's what we think," said Kenneth Taylor, chief of the N.C. Geological Survey. "We could become a net exporter." Read more »