Above

For nearly two straight years U.S. natural gas output has climbed almost continuously — and 2012 could see even stronger growth, according to the energy team at Raymond James & Associates Inc.

“The idle well [count] increased again to 762 wells, approximately 300 above the normal 450, indicating that drilling continues to outpace fracturing services and a need to add approximately 10 crews,” Helms said in his monthly “Director’s Cut” report.

U.S. shale natural gas production today is half the size of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, which doesn’t bode well for those with designs on imports but is a positive for proposed export facilities, the Houston-based chief of Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA (GM&T) said Monday.

October natural gas continued to erode Thursday as traders digested a government report of an above-average injection of 89 Bcf. The decline was less than some expected, and analysts noted the relative resilience of natural gas to an otherwise deteriorating oil and equity market environment. October slipped 2.5 cents to $3.705 and November retreated 3.8 cents to $3.782. November crude oil imploded $5.41 to $80.51/bbl.

U.S. Lower 48 gross natural gas production in May declined slightly from April; however, it was still more than 7% above year-ago levels, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday.

Williams on Thursday offered to acquire Southern Union Co. for $44/share in cash for a total enterprise bid of $9.4 billion — a deal that is 10% above the $40/share purchase price offered by Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) earlier this month and 56% more than Southern Union’s closing price on June 15, the last trading day before ETE launched its takeover (see Daily GPI, July 6; June 17).

Since May when this year’s above-normal water runoff began being felt fully, some 6,000 to 7,000 MW of thermal (natural gas and coal-fired) generation has been shut down, a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) spokesperson in Portland, OR, told NGI Friday.

If recently announced drilling programs are any indication, 2011 could be the biggest year to date for Utica Shale exploration.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said a Marcellus Shale well that blew out late last Tuesday is “stable,” but the company must now manage the public and regulatory fallout of the incident in northeast Pennsylvania.