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Oil and gas patch output is typically measured in barrels or cubic feet, but gross domestic product (GDP) is another yardstick by which to chart growth, and that’s particularly true in North Dakota, home to the Bakken Shale, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday.

Researchers commissioned by state government agencies have offered differing opinions over whether a housing shortage is on the horizon in eastern Ohio, where development is ramping up in the state’s portions of the Marcellus and Utica shales.

In another major victory for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision that found the agency did not act illegally in promulgating the Dodd-Frank regulations.

The 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season is likely to be another active one, but conditions have Weather Services International trimming its forecast, just a bit, to 16 named storms, including nine hurricanes, four of them major (Category 3 or higher), from the previous forecast of 19 named storms, including nine hurricanes, five of them major (see Daily GPI, April 9).

Despite protests by state officials and the energy industry, the Boulder (CO) County commission on Tuesday extended a 16-month drilling moratorium now in place by another 18 months, following the lead of the Boulder city council, which earlier this month imposed a one-year drilling permit ban (see Shale Daily, June 7).

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. raised second quarter oil production guidance to 10,800-11,200 b/d from 9,600-10,000 b/d, increased its 2013 crude oil production growth target to 40% from 28% and raised its total 2013 production growth target to 10% from 6%, based largely on results in the Eagle Ford Shale.

As another sign that the railroad sector is a growing potential transportation market for natural gas, Canadian National Railway (CN) has ordered four liquefied natural gas (LNG) tenders from Vancouver, BC-based Westport Innovations Inc., the first of which are to be delivered later this year. A tender is a car behind the locomotive that carries the fuel.

Members of the Pittsburgh Presbytery voted to end a one-year moratorium on shale development, a decision that could potentially open property from the organization’s 150 churches to Marcellus Shale oil and gas leasing.

Utility developers planning combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects in the Marcellus and Utica shales are looking for a “power price appreciation” from excess natural gas, not growing demand, to ensure a fair return on their investments, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH).