Cause

ExxonMobil Corp. advanced the cause for North American natural gas last week after agreeing to pay $41 billion to acquire unconventional gas powerhouse XTO Energy Inc.

ExxonMobil Corp. advanced the cause for North American natural gas Monday after agreeing to pay $41 billion to acquire unconventional gas powerhouse XTO Energy Inc.

As low as gas prices are — and could get — they won’t be the primary cause of production shut-ins to come. Instead, as some industry executives have previously predicted, pushback from packed pipelines will force lower-pressure wells out of the gas supply mix, Barclays Capital analysts said Tuesday.

The appellate court in Washington, DC, last Tuesday ruled that Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) can move forward uninterrupted with oil and natural gas sales under the contested five-year (2007-2012) leasing plan in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

While the cause of Wednesday’s rally in natural gas futures remains up for debate, the reality is that the June contract erased Tuesday’s 11-cent drop by climbing most of the day to close at $3.887, up 27.2 cents from Tuesday’s finish. The talk among traders on the day was that the upward price action was caused by fund buying, a rupture on Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line, Jim Cramer’s bullish prognosis, or some mixture of the three.

A disabled water pump was the cause of the shut-in of natural gas production from the Sable Island Field offshore Nova Scotia early last Tuesday morning, a spokesman for operator ExxonMobil told NGI. As of last Thursday afternoon, production of about 400 MMcf/d was expected to come back on in a matter of days, the spokesman said.

A disabled water pump was the cause of the shut-in of natural gas production from the Sable Island Field offshore Nova Scotia early Tuesday morning, a spokesman for operator ExxonMobil told NGI Wednesday.

While the “Pickens Army” continues to add new members daily to fight for the cause of energy independence in the United States, billionaire T. Boone Pickens said last week the recent drop in energy commodity prices — especially natural gas — has led him to scale back his mammoth wind farm project in Texas.

While the “Pickens Army” continues to add new members daily to fight for the cause of energy independence in the United States, billionaire T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday the recent drop in energy commodity prices — especially natural gas — has led him to scale back his mammoth wind farm project in Texas.