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Among assets slated to be sold by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) to win antitrust clearance for its acquisition of El Paso Energy Corp., the “only meaningful” buys are the 50% stake in the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) and KMI’s Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission (KMIGT), an industry analyst said Friday. And it’s not because of what they are now, but what they could become.

With prices languishing at their lowest levels in a decade, there’s been lots of hand wringing among supporters of natural gas-focused independents as they drop dry gas rigs or shift to more liquids-rich plays. But don’t expect to see any of those types of worry lines on the top guns of ExxonMobil Corp., the biggest gas producer in the United States.

With prices languishing at their lowest levels in a decade, there’s been lots of hand wringing among supporters of natural gas-focused independents as they drop dry gas rigs or shift to more liquids-rich plays. But don’t expect to see any of those types of worry lines on the top guns of ExxonMobil Corp., the biggest gas producer in the United States.

Growing gas supply in the Marcellus Shale and projected growth in gas-fired power generation among southern states could mean a renaissance for the traditional Gulf of Mexico-to-Northeast pipeline business. Spectra Energy Corp. would seem to think so, as its latest project, called Renaissance Gas Transmission, would carry Marcellus gas south to Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

As their country dreams of becoming “the second Norway” of natural gas, scientists in Poland asked themselves whether hydraulic fracturing (fracking) stimulation of shale gas wells is safe for the environment. The answer: yes, if done according to “legal regulations.”

With a eye on natural gas prices, Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. is dropping more than half of its drilling rigs in the Haynesville Shale this year, cutting one rig in the Marcellus and deferring well completions in natural gas plays. However, CEO Doug Miller said Friday there are “huge opportunities” to buy distressed properties, which the company intends to pursue.

The shale revolution — first in natural gas and then in oil — has placed the United States at the beginning of an energy system turnaround in the 21st century; however, if the country is to benefit from its new-found energy wealth, government will have to get out of the way, John Hofmeister, founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, told a Houston audience Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would require companies drilling on public lands to disclose the chemicals used in their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, according to a draft of proposed BLM regulations acquired by NGI’s Shale Daily.

Freeport LNG Development LP — which is among the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal flip-floppers — has asked FERC to modify an authorization granted earlier this year for expansion of its regasification facilities. As with some other Gulf Coast LNG terminals, operators are now more intent on exporting LNG than importing it.