Appears

With the onshore oil rig count “on fire,” Raymond James & Associates Inc. on Monday raised its U.S. onshore rig forecast for 2011 by 3% and initiated a 2012 forecast that is 9% higher year/year (y/y).

Natural gas has been the primary target of domestic drilling throughout the past decade, but the focus appears to be shifting to crude oil, according to a report on first quarter well completions issued by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

With just less than two months still to go before the official start of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, the prognosis appears to be for a season featuring above-average activity, according to the outlooks from a couple of highly respected forecasters.

With two months still to go before the official start of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, the prognosis appears to be for a season featuring above-average activity, according to the outlooks from a couple of highly respected forecasters.

Texas lawmakers are not yet into the meat of their current legislative session, but the oil and gas industry appears to have dodged one bullet already, according to the president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). Still, it’s early, and lawmakers in budget-strapped Texas could very well look to the state’s oil and gas breadbasket to take up some of the slack.

Texas lawmakers are not yet into the meat of their current legislative session, but the oil and gas industry appears to have dodged one bullet already, according to the president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). Still, it’s early, and lawmakers in budget-strapped Texas could very well look to the state’s oil and gas breadbasket to take up some of the slack.

The Fayetteville Shale in northern Arkansas not only appears destined for sustained significant growth well into the future but commands some of the highest shale pricing around. One of the chief signals of these optimistic expectations was the Dec. 1 start-up of service on Fayetteville Express Pipeline (FEP), providing a major addition to takeaway capacity for the shale’s producers.

It definitely appears that the bloom is off the price rose that was sustained through much of September despite generally weak weather fundamentals. Only small gains at a few Rockies points were left out of declines everywhere else in trading that began the final week of September on Monday.

Entering the third week after the devastating transmission pipeline explosion in San Bruno, CA, (see NGI, Sept. 13), it appears that additional investigations are likely to come from state regulators and lawmakers, along with various industry assessments.