Carolyn Davis

Rice University scientists are on to an environmentally friendly carbon-capture method that may be equally adept at drawing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from natural gas wells and industrial flue gases.

Final investment decisions (FID) for $150 billion worth of projects, including in Canada, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export proposals in North America, may be deferred or canceled next year as oil prices continue to fall, consulting firm Rystad Energy said Friday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and a bevy of independent analysts have predicted domestic natural gas production will climb rapidly over the long-term because of booming unconventional gas growth. However, the University of Texas at Austin (UT) is predicting production from the biggest shale gas plays — Marcellus, Barnett, Fayetteville and Haynesville — will peak by 2020 and decline thereafter.

Service providers and equipment manufacturers haven’t seen a big market change yet on lower oil prices, but it’s coming, and with it, a much lower forecast for North American horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in 2015, PacWest Consulting Partners LLC said Thursday.

Exploration and development (E&D) spending by independents worldwide dropped by 14% in 2013 from 2012 as depressed natural gas prices in North America took a toll on cash flows and spending ability, an annual survey by EY found.

Southwestern Energy Co. is gobbling up more acreage in the Marcellus Shale in a $300 million agreement with WPX Energy Inc., which has been attempting to distance itself from the play.

Constitution Pipeline, designed to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale to New York and New England markets, has been given the green light by FERC to begin construction.

Natural gas and oil production has started up from the Jack/St. Malo fields from one of the largest production facilities ever designed for the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), with total production by 2020 forecast to reach 21 MMcf/d of natural gas and 94,000 b/d of crude oil.

Devon Energy Corp. President and CEO John Richels, 63, is retiring effective July 31, with COO Dave Hager slated to take the helm. Richels is to become chairman in 2016 when co-founder Larry Nichols, 72, retires and becomes chairman emeritus, the board of directors said. “John’s vision and leadership have delivered significant value to Devon shareholders for many years and particularly as we recently repositioned and rebalanced the company as a leading North American exploration and production company,” said Nichols. Hager, 58, “has been instrumental in the rebalancing of our portfolio and his focus on creating shareholder value, his integrity and his many other positive attributes will serve all stakeholders well,” said Richels, who joined Devon in 1998. Richels was elected president in 2004 and named CEO in 2010 when Nichols retired. Hager joined Devon in 2009 as executive vice president of exploration and production. Hager previously worked forAnadarko Petroleum Corp. predecessor Kerr-McGee Corp. He has a bachelor’s degree in geophysics from Purdue University and a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University.