2015

Chesapeake Energy Corp. plans to sell stakes in at least three more onshore U.S. shale plays, CEO Aubrey McClendon told energy analysts Friday, and at the same time he claimed a leadership position for the company in the new natural gas age.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and El Paso Corp. have agreed to a friendly, $38 billion buyout of the latter that KMI CEO Richard D. Kinder said is largely predicated on the growing role of natural gas in North America’s energy supply picture, thanks in large part to production from shale gas plays around the continent.

Shale gas prospects in British Columbia (BC) appear to be the sole “bright spot” on a darkening natural gas landscape projecting a continuing decline in Canada’s overall gas production in the years ahead, according to a report recently released by the Conference Board of Canada.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is reporting “strong initial production” from its first Utica Shale wells.

To fund increased drilling in core areas of the Marcellus Shale and Piceance Basin, Antero Resources has added $126 million to its capital budget for 2011.

A “world-class” ethane cracker and ethylene derivatives facility, fed by shale gas reserves, is being evaluated by Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP for siting in the Gulf Coast region.

Encana Corp. has joined its Horn River producer peers Apache Corp. and EOG Resources Inc. in the Kitimat liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project on the west coast of central British Columbia (BC) and its associated gas pipeline. Encana is taking a 30% stake in the project, which will target Asian markets with western Canadian gas supplies.

An annual increase of 1.75% in its peak-day gas loads through 2015 is projected by Boise, ID-based Intermountain Gas Co. in a five-year planning document submitted recently to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Given planned upgrades over the next five years, Intermountain sees no peak-day challenges.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon continues to put his money where the shale is, most recently by adding another 500,000 net acres to the company’s million-plus acre leasehold in the Marcellus Shale.