Helis Oil & Gas halts St Tammany Parish drilling project

NEW ORLEANS - Helis Oil & Gas Co. has abandoned its plans to drill in St. Tammany Parish.The company, in a news release Tuesday, said "after a lengthy review of geologic, engineering and other data," it had decided to scrap a second phase of a drilling operation that involved hydraulic fracturing or fracking northeast of Mandeville.Helis spokesman Greg Beuerman says the company has determined that the operation lacks "appropriate commercial viability." At the inception of the project, Helis