Calling

A “consensus playbook” is calling for the U.S. natural gas supply curve to flatten over the coming months, but improved drilling and completion technology and a backlog of wells waiting for pipeline connections in the onshore shale plays indicate that growth won’t stall anytime soon, analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday.

Nearly 200 people crowded the phone lines of an open meeting Monday night to hear public comments surrounding the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Natural Gas Subcommittee’s initial report on hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Calling development of the Marcellus Shale play “a great opportunity” for New York, the Public Policy Institute of New York State Inc. (PPI) said a scenario where 500 gas wells were drilled every year in the state would create 62,620 jobs, $2.7 billion in added value and $1 billion in local, state and federal tax revenue.

Calling development of the Marcellus Shale play “a great opportunity” for New York, the Public Policy Institute of New York State Inc. (PPI) said a scenario where 500 gas wells were drilled every year in the state would create 62,620 jobs, $2.7 billion in added value and $1 billion in local, state and federal tax revenue.

Calling newly proposed air emission standards to be imposed on the oil and gas industry an “overreach,” industry groups on Friday continued to lobby the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rethink its plans. In fact, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) warned that the standards could stifle natural gas production, which could promote the use of other less-clean energy sources.

Calling newly proposed air emission standards to be imposed on the oil and gas industry an “overreach,” industry groups on Friday continued to lobby the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rethink its plans. In fact, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) warned that the standards could stifle natural gas production, which could promote the use of other less-clean energy sources.

August natural gas scored a double-digit gain Friday as traders noted what seems to be a never-ending series of forecasts calling for above-normal temperatures. At the close August was up 16.8 cents to $4.546 and September had added 16.2 cents to $4.520. August crude oil made an advance of its own adding $1.55 to $97.24/bbl.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued an executive order Tuesday directing the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to begin enforcing several new safeguards on Marcellus Shale drilling, and to identify areas of regulatory concern.

Idaho Power Co. has filed an integrated resource plan (IRP) with Idaho and Oregon regulators calling for a near-doubling of its natural gas-fired generation with the completion next year of a third plant. The utility’s 300 MW combined-cycle gas-fired Langley Gulch generation plant is set to open in June 2012. The plant was identified as needed in Idaho Power’s 2009 IRP. Two existing gas-fired plants provide 345 MW of nameplate capacity collectively. Part of the new plant’s development includes construction of a connecting gas transmission pipeline and a 230-kV electric transmission line and substation. Idaho Power said in addition to boosting its power supply portfolio, Langley Gulch is expected to help the utility integrate ever-larger amounts of wind-powered generation into its system. The gas-fired generation is expected to be increased and decreased quickly in response to the intermittent wind supplies.