Believes

A major producer group has called on the White House to take the lead in coordinating federal reviews of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) with the goal of avoiding redundancy and streamlining work.

A geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) believes at least two minor earthquakes in South Texas, including a 3.0-magnitude temblor on Feb. 4, were caused by oil and natural gas drilling.

U.S. natural gas supply growth is much more resilient than the market now believes, and producers “likely” will have to shut in more than 1 Tcf of natural gas sometime this year, energy analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. said last week. To return balances to 2011 averages, Barclays Capital said U.S. gas output needs to curtailed by an average of 3.2 Bcf/d for the year, or just under 5% of flowing U.S. gas supply.

U.S. natural gas supply growth is much more resilient than the market now believes, and producers “likely” will have to shut in more than 1 Tcf of natural gas sometime this year, energy analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday.

Unusually warm winter weather and the ongoing production boom from the nation’s shale plays will help keep natural gas spot prices down in 2012, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) said in separate reports Monday.

Shale-inspired historic low prices for natural gas are reconfiguring the electricity generation sector, particularly for renewable or clean power, according to Sacramento, CA-based consultant/independent power entrepreneur Mark Henwood. The market is beginning to notice what Henwood called “this rapid shift in natural gas economics.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is challenging a Pennsylvania policy for measuring air emissions, including those from Marcellus Shale development.

When it comes to ethane projects in the Marcellus Shale, MarkWest Energy Partners LP believes there is strength in numbers, the company said in a quarterly conference call on Tuesday.

Range Resources Corp. CEO John Pinkerton said he believes 2012 will be “a breakout year” for the company as it ramps up production in the Marcellus Shale and develops assets in other plays to replace those in the Barnett Shale that were sold in April.