Tulsa’s WPX Energy, a key player in Pennsylvania’s shale gas country, has hired Breaux Lott Leadership Group for advice on energy and tax policy. Former Senators John Breaux (Louisiana) and Trent Lott (Mississippi) head BLLG, which they sold to Patton Boggs in 2010.

WPX completed 54 wells in the Keystone State last year with the majority of that activity in northeastern Susquehanna County, which borders New York. It has 25 wells near completion or waiting for a pipeline connection.   

The company reports that its Marcellus Shale Formation fracking production was up 320 percent in 2012, though ongoing pipeline bottlenecks and lower gas prices hurt WPX’s financial results last year.  Marcellus gas volume is projected to rise up to 80 percent in 2013.

The company is also bullish about its Bakken shale oil operation in booming North Dakota and newly discovered shale gas in Colorado’s Niobrara formation that has the potential to double WPX’s reserves.