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Throughput volumes on long-haul natural gas pipelines grew 4.1% in 2011, compared to flat growth between 2007 and 2010, but the increase is not being realized in return on equity (ROE) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), despite the significant capital spent in the sector over the last few years, according to a report ranking investment risks by Houston-based U.S. Capital Advisors.

An energy official in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration said natural gas is being viewed as a potential “bridge fuel” to the future, when technological advances will presumably open the door for renewables.

The country may be suffering through one of its worst droughts in decades and record high temperatures are being recorded on a monthly basis, but portions of the eastern United States can expect above-normal snowfall during the 2012-2013 winter season, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.com.

With the natural gas price slump now being measured in terms of years instead of months, producers continue to pull rigs from dry gas unconventional plays to pursue oil targets, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.

Houston explorer Marathon Oil Corp. is reducing its rig count in the Eagle Ford Shale because of drilling efficiencies and dropped rigs in the Anadarko Woodford and Bakken plays in response to a “continued decline in natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas prices,” the company said Wednesday.

A Colorado State University (CSU) team led by former Gov. Bill Ritter briefed California’s oil and natural gas officials about how Colorado’s drilling rules that encompass hydraulic fracturing stipulations were able to satisfy environmental concerns — an issue California faces as legislators consider whether to establish a fracking moratorium or not (see Shale Daily, June 28).

Flaws in a study of potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water supplies being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be addressed in order for the agency’s final report to be credible, according to a review of the study released Tuesday by the Battelle Memorial Institute.

Cash points dipped across the country Friday for Sunday and Monday delivery as the brutal heat being experienced in much of the country was expected to dissipate over the weekend. Market points could be in for a rebound Monday after August natural gas futures on Friday finished 10.2 cents higher at $2.824, up 15.6 cents from the previous week’s finish.

Pennsylvania officials are renewing their effort to get fellow members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to agree to revised water quality regulations that could ultimately open the basin to expanded Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.