Climbed

If U.S. shale plays were students in a classroom, the one blowing the curve on the oil production test would be named Bakken.

With rig counts, prices and liquids all moving up, the incidence of natural gas flaring in the Bakken Shale play is expected to continue to decline throughout this year, the head of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, Ron Ness, told NGI’s Shale Daily Wednesday, responding to questions about a report on the state’s record-setting oil/gas operations from the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Alaska has issued a call for nominations and comments on tracts for oil and leases to be offered in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) in November. The notice, which was published in the Federal Register, is subject to a 45-day comment period. This is the second consecutive annual sale that President Obama has directed BLM to hold in the NPR-A. The first NPR-A sale in 2011 generated bids totaling more than $3.6 million (see NGI, Dec. 12, 2011). BLM Alaska said it plans to offer 630 tracts on 7.1 million acres in the upcoming lease lease, which would be more than double what was offered in 2011. The tracts to be auctioned would be within the Northeast and Northwest Planning Areas of the NPR-A, according to the notice. The U.S. Geological Survey in 2010 estimated that the NPR-A, which covers 22.8 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope, holds approximately 896 million bbl of oil and 53 Tcf of natural gas. Both figures were below what the agency estimated in 2002. BLM Alaska said it must receive all nominations and comments on the tracts for consideration by June 29. The nominations and/or comments should be sent to the State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Ave., Mailstop 13, Anchorage, AK 99513-7504. For further information, contact Deputy State Director Ted Murphy at (907) 271-4413.

Lower 48 gas production in January climbed 0.36 Bcf/d to a record 72.85 Bcf/d mostly on production gains in the “other states” category in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report. EIA said the other states contributed an increase of 0.38 Bcf/d, or 1.8%, partly due to continued drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale and Colorado. New Mexico output rose by 0.10 Bcf/d, or 2.8%. Louisiana posted the greatest production decrease at 0.16 Bcf/d, or minus 1.8%, as some operators reported curtailed production. In Texas production was flat compared with December’s level, which was revised to a 1.2% decline from November. Oklahoma’s January production fell by 0.6% from December. Production in the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico was flat with December. Wyoming was up 0.9%, and Alaska was up 3.4%.

Lower 48 gas production in January climbed half a percent or 0.36 Bcf/d, to a record 72.85 Bcf/d, mainly thanks to production gains in states in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “other states” category, which included drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale.

Lower 48 gas production in January climbed half a percent or 0.36 Bcf/d, to a record 72.85 Bcf/d, mainly thanks to production gains in states in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “other states” category.

Driven mostly by North America, the world market for oilfield specialty chemicals climbed to almost $16 billion in 2010, with the United States and Canada accounting for more than half (52%), according to a global market study by IHS Chemical.

Energy analysts with Tudor, Pickering Holt & Co. (TPH) on Thursday climbed on the train to anywhere but here for natural gas prices, cutting their outlook for 2012 by more than $1.00 to $3.25/Mcf from $4.32.

Ten years on, drilling in the Barnett Shale has expanded the economy of the 24-county region in North Texas by 38%, according to a new study that said cumulative economic benefits of the Barnett from 2001 to 2011 include $65.4 billion in gross product for the region and $80.7 billion for the state.