Bottom

Belief that the bottom has been touched and the outlook can only improve for Canadian gas producers is showing even among professional skeptics and declared opponents of wishful thinking in petroleum engineering, geology and economics firms whose stock-in-trade is reserves evaluations.

Belief that the bottom has been touched and the outlook can only improve for Canadian gas producers is showing even among professional skeptics and declared opponents of wishful thinking in petroleum engineering, geology and economics firms whose stock-in-trade is reserves evaluations.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

With bottom-end temperatures in the teens and 20s predicted for Tuesday in the East and some parts of the West, while lows approach zero at some locations in Western Canada and a little south of the U.S. border, the cash market found plenty of heating demand to bolster prices by large amounts at nearly all points Monday.

Lower natural gas prices will have an effect on National Fuel Gas’ (NFG) bottom line in 2011, but the company will continue to ramp up its drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale during the year, CEO David F. Smith said during a conference call with financial analysts Friday.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said late Wednesday the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has still not “gotten to the bottom” of the explosion and fire that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes. The San Francisco-based combination utility pledged to continue to support the investigation.

The mad dash to tap the massive natural gas and oil shales across North America has begun to cut into the bottom line as service costs rise, Encana Corp. executives said last week.

The mad dash to tap the massive natural gas and oil shales across North America has begun to cut into the bottom line as service costs rise, Encana Corp. executives said Wednesday.