Regulators Seek Records on Claims for Gas Wells

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission sent subpoenas this week to energy companies asking them for documents about how they calculate and publicly disclose the performance of their shale gas wells, according to oil and gas industry lawyers.

The subpoenas reflect the regulators’ interest in determining whether companies are overstating how their gas wells perform and how much gas these companies can profitably extract over the long term.

It is not clear how many subpoenas were sent. John Nester, a spokesman for the commission, declined to comment.

“The use of subpoenas makes clear that the S.E.C. is taking a formal, not a casual, look at the matter,” said a market research report on Thursday by Robert W. Baird & Co., an international financial services firm. The report also noted that subpoenas do not mean that the commission intends to take action against any particular company, and that estimating reserves is not an exact science.Read More

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/us/30gas.html?_r=4&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23