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Weather surprises aside, North America’s growing natural gas surplus, low oil prices and an expected resurgence in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports may keep Henry Hub prices below $7/MMBtu for “much or all” of 2009 and 2010, an energy analyst said in a review.

Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA agreed to pay Chesapeake Energy Corp. $3.38 billion to gain a stake in the Marcellus Shale. About $1.25 billion will be paid for a 32.5% stake in the acreage and $2.13 billion will be set aside to fund 75% of drilling and completion costs from 2009 to 2012.

Saying “current economics are not sufficient to proceed,” Agrium Inc. is setting aside plans for a coal gasification facility to supply syngas to its Nikiski nitrogen plant in Kenai, AK. Mothballing of the facility will be completed shortly, Agrium said, and the plans may be revisited again in the future.

Saying “current economics are not sufficient to proceed,” Agrium Inc. is setting aside plans for a coal gasification facility to supply syngas to its Nikiski nitrogen plant in Kenai, AK. Mothballing of the facility will be completed shortly, Agrium said, and the plans may be revisited again in the future.

ConocoPhillips said Friday it will set aside about 22% of its total worldwide exploration budget to bolster North American development in the coming year, with $3.3 billion targeted for the U.S. Lower 48 states, $1 billion for Alaska and $2.2 billion for Canadian development.

November natural gas futures traders stood aside Friday as all eyes continued to focus on the meteoric rise in crude futures. While prompt-month natural gas closed at $7.218, up 3 pennies from Thursday and 17.7 cents higher than the previous week, December crude reached a high of $92/bbl before closing out at a record high $91.86/bbl, up $1.40 from Thursday.

After months of predicting that a price and drilling recovery was just around the corner, Canadian natural gas producers are setting aside forecasts and settling down to wait for markets to tighten up.

After months of predicting that a price and drilling recovery was just around the corner, Canadian natural gas producers are setting aside forecasts and settling down to wait for markets to tighten up.

Although there were reservations that the deal may be too sweet for the utility, California regulators Thursday set aside an administrative law judge’s proposed decision and approved a contested settlement giving Pacific Gas and Electric Co. a $213 million general rate increase for 2007 with provisions for $125 million annual boosts in the subsequent three-year period (2008-2010). The settlement was called “satisfactory, not great,” by Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Two major consumer groups refused to buy into the deal.