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A “supply shock” to the global energy markets being created by North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand in the last 15, forcing operators to overhaul global investment strategies and reshape the way oil is transported, stored and refined, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are tight and expected to remain so for a while as liquefaction projects in progress wrestle with delays and those being planned face an environment of escalating costs. However, there is plenty of gas to liquefy in Australia, the United States (thank you, shales) and elsewhere. And there’s growing demand as gas is becoming the “fuel of choice” around the world.

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Michigan plan to begin collecting signatures for a petition that could ask voters in 2014 whether to allow the drilling stimulation practice to be used in the state.

Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are tight and expected to remain so for a while as liquefaction projects in progress wrestle with delays and those being planned face an environment of escalating costs. However, there’s plenty of gas to liquefy in Australia, the United States (thank you, shales) and elsewhere. And there’s growing demand as gas is becoming the “fuel of choice” around the world.

A bill (HB 1324) recently approved by the Indiana House and now being considered by the state Senate would provide an income tax credit for large natural gas-fueled trucks and would impose a motor carrier fuel tax on natural gas equivalent to rates already imposed on gasoline.

A former steel plant in Steubenville, OH, is being redeveloped into an industrial park, a portion of which state and local officials say will be used to support operations in the Marcellus Shale.

Houston-based Sanchez Energy Corp. is buying producing acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale for $265 million that will more than double current company-wide production and increase proved reserves by 63%.

Contact Exploration Inc. and Pieridae Energy Ltd. have created Pieridae Production LP (PPLP) to focus on natural gas exploration and production in support of Pieridae’s proposed Goldboro LNG Terminal in Guysborough, Nova Scotia. PPLP, which, at least initially, will rely on shale gas in the Frederick Brook Shale.

In the past 10 years the cost of building natural gas pipelines in North America has tripled, with the U.S. Northeast being the most costly area, according to a report published Friday by Calgary-based Ziff Energy. The implications are clear for burgeoning shale plays where much new takeaway infrastructure still needs to be built.