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U.S. natural gas prices may well go higher over the next 18 months to two years, but a few things could stand in their way, including stronger-than-forecast dry gas output from unconventional plays, including the Haynesville and Barnett shales, Credit Suisse analysts said Wednesday.

Seventeen environmental groups Wednesday filed a petition with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include the oil and gas extraction industry, particularly hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, in its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements.

Dominion Resources Inc. announced Monday that it plans to close and decommission a nuclear power plant in Wisconsin next year, a decision the company said was made in part due to continuing low natural gas prices.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Corp. has been watching the producer activity around its more than 3,600 acres in Frio County, TX, and is working to raise capital by the end of the year to start drilling some wells of its own, the company said Wednesday.

Between now and 2016, close to $77 billion will be spent on worldwide subsea vessel operations, representing an increase of 63% over the previous five-year period, according to new research by energy adviser Douglas-Westwood (DW). North American spending is expected to total $13 billion, an increase of 23% from the past five years.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reportedly close to making a public endorsement of high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and will unveil a plan to allow the practice on a limited scale initially, but under strict regulation and only in localities that welcome it.

Following a series of tests indicating that water from private wells in Dimock Township, PA, is safe to drink, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday said it has determined “that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the agency” and it has no plans to further test water samples in the township.

Braskem America on Wednesday agreed to take over some of the petrochemical operations at the old Sunoco Marcus Hook Industrial Complex south of Philadelphia with a $56 million infusion and another $15 million in state support that preserves more than 100 jobs and creates at least 28 more.

It will add to the hydrocarbon-rich state’s mitigation of flared associated natural gas supplies in the Bakken Shale play.