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With production and personnel almost completely restored in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) after Tropical Storm Lee’s passing and Tropical Storm Nate likely to steer clear of U.S. energy interests, traders on Friday put downward pressure on natural gas futures values. The October contract ended up dropping 6.5 cents on the day to close at $3.915, which is 4.3 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

In two days’ time Hess Corp. has acquired stakes in almost 185,000 net acres in the Ohio portion of the Utica Shale, the latest deal adding 85,000 more acres to its prospective leasehold.

Softness in the cash market extended to almost all points Friday as existing negative price influences were supplemented by the usual weekend demand decline in the industrial sector.

Although the city-created project has sputtered at times during its almost three-year permitting process, the Palmdale, CA, hybrid natural gas and solar power generation project has won approval of the California Energy Commission (CEC) Wednesday. However, the approval still doesn’t mean the project will be built.

Almost three months to the day after first enacting a ban on natural gas drilling, the City of Wellsburg, WV, voted 5-3 on Tuesday night to repeal the measure.

Texas keeps getting hotter and drier, and aquifer water levels keep declining as homeowners, farmers and oil and gas drillers keep pumping water for their various uses. However, one water watcher told NGI’s Shale Daily he does not expect curtailments on water use for drilling/hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Eagle Ford Shale.

ExxonMobil’s U.S. unconventional natural gas-weighted portfolio, substantially built with the buyout of XTO Energy Inc. last year, now totals 76 Tcfe, which is almost 70% more than the companies recognized at the time of the merger, the investor relations chief said Thursday.

Natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale poses a danger to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, which supply almost half of the fresh water resources in the Chesapeake Bay, American Rivers said Tuesday.

Better-than-expected performance in the Marcellus Shale helped Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s shareholders kick the stock almost 13% higher on Wednesday, the day the producer released its latest quarterly earnings.