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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Thursday she plans to introduce legislation that would allow directional drilling for oil and natural gas resources below Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Ultra Petroleum Corp. reduced its 2009 capital spending budget at $720 million, 24% below spending levels in 2008, but it still is on pace to grow its natural gas weighted output by 18-22% from last year, the CEO said Wednesday.

U.S. natural gas production will begin to fall by mid-year and be down 2.5 Bcf/d by year’s end, or 4.3% below 2008’s output, EOG Resources Inc. CEO Mark Papa said Thursday.

U.S. natural gas production will begin to fall by mid-year and be down 2.5 Bcf/d by year’s end, or 4.3% below 2008’s output, EOG Resources Inc. CEO Mark Papa said Thursday.

Northern Natural Gas said forecasts of below-zero minimum temperatures prompted it to post a System Overrun Limitation (SOL) for all market-area zones (ABC, D and E/F) Sunday. Zero System Management Service was available that day, Northern said. It also posted a Sunday SOL for the New Market, MN #1 Town Border Station.

The Pacific Northwest’s continued below-freezing temperatures pushed Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to another record natural gas sendout Friday, surpassing one the utility set earlier in the week. PSE said natural gas demand hit 780,000 MMBtu on Friday, compared to 755,881 MMBtu last Tuesday.

El Paso warned shippers Wednesday afternoon of the potential for a Strained Operating Condition (SOC), saying its linepack was expected to drop below 7,200 MMcf that night because of evening loads in the Phoenix area and the continuation of takes in excess of scheduled deliveries. However, the pipeline canceled the SOC warning Thursday due to customer response being sufficient to increase its linepack “to acceptable levels.” Washington Ranch storage remained on maximum withdrawal, El Paso added.

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.

Focusing on weather and global warming trends and ignoring “black swans” — incidents that spike well above or below established trends — could blind investors and the energy industry to opportunities, according to Bethlehem, PA-based long-range forecaster Weather Trends International (WTI).