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National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) said low natural gas prices were forcing its Seneca Resources Corp. subsidiary to scale back capital expenditures (capex) on exploration and production (E&P) for fiscal 2012, which includes dropping two of its six drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale.

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.

With recent production from the Eagle Ford Shale and Niobrara Formation, Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. passed its target of 5,000 net b/d, the company announced Wednesday.

Last week Cheniere Energy Inc. said it was launching another project to liquefy and export domestic gas. This came only days after it said it had signed the third contract for its first liquefaction and export project.

Texas-based Frac Tech Services LLC, a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) specialist, apparently is in talks to sell a stake in the company to one of three foreign oil giants for $2 billion-plus and also is close to completing joint ventures (JV) to work overseas on unconventional oil and gas prospects, sources told NGI’s Shale Daily on Thursday.

The head of a major Pennsylvania water utility sees a two-fer in convincing Marcellus Shale operators to replace trucks with pipelines to supply water for fracking, thereby saving roads and supplying piped water to rural customers.

Somewhat improbably, the cash market built upon Friday’s modest gains, which came amidst mixed price moves, with a fairly strong advance across the board Monday. The return of industrial load from its weekend dip was a minor bullish factor, but otherwise reasons for Monday’s upticks were difficult to discern.

Three of the top four natural gas marketers reported volume declines compared with the year-ago period, and 24 leading companies had total sales transactions of 123.44 Bcf/d in 2Q2011, a 3.50 Bcf/d (3%) decrease from the 126.94 Bcf/d they transacted in 2Q2010, according to NGI’s 2Q2011 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

The public debate over shale gas came to a head in Philadelphia last week, as industry executives touted their achievements, government officials praised and criticized those developments, and protestors shouted from the street outside the two-day Shale Gas Insight 2011 conference hosted by the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC).