Competitive

Canada still harbors resolve – and claims of competitive advantages – to break into global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade soon on a large scale, skeptical business executives and analysts learned Tuesday in the industry capital of Calgary.

A Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) order issued last year that required utilities to enter into long-term power supply contracts with a developer chosen by the PSC to build a natural gas-fired plant was invalidated by a U.S. District Court judge Monday.

The pressure pumping industry is becoming more efficient and learning “to do more with less,” adding overall capacity for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations but also oversupplying the market and keeping pumping prices competitive for the next 12-18 months, according to analysts at UBS Securities LLC.

The House Natural Resources Committee Wednesday voted out a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the Department of Interior from enforcing federal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) regulations.

Nabors Industries Inc., the largest onshore drilling fleet operator and the biggest supplier of pressure pumping equipment, is not optimistic about seeing gains in the U.S. oil or gas patch through the rest of this year, CEO Tony Petrello said Wednesday.

The continuing shale gas boom is having a “massive impact” on the U.S. energy market, particularly a revival for various smart grid developments, according to a report released by IMS Research, a unit of the global research/consulting firm IHS.

A range war of sorts has broken out in California between competitive compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation fueling companies and monopoly utilities seeking to serve some of the CNG load to their existing customers.

Complying with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rulemaking for drilling on public lands would cost as much as $180,250/well, or $370 million annually, according to economists with Oklahoma City University (OCU).

Officials in the Canadian province of New Brunswick unveiled new rules for oil and natural gas development in the prospective Frederick Brook Shale on Friday, including a requirement that operators disclose all of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).