Crews

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has voluntarily suspended all completion operations in Pennsylvania as response crews work to contain a Chesapeake well blowout in the Marcellus Shale in northeast Pennsylvania.

In the midst of untold human, property and ecological devastation in the week-long Southern California inferno, energy infrastructure and utility crews were stretched to the maximum last week. For the energy sector in the statem the brunt of the high winds and irrepressible flames was absorbed by the electricity infrastructure. Natural gas operations were virtually unscathed.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the failure of Morgan City, LA-based Athena Construction to require its crews to secure mooring spuds in place on its barges led to an unintentional release of one of the spuds, which resulted in a natural gas pipeline rupture offshore Louisiana that killed six people in October 2006.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the failure of Morgan City, LA-based Athena Construction to require its crews to secure mooring spuds in place on its barges led to an unintentional release of one of the spuds, which resulted in a natural gas pipeline rupture offshore Louisiana that killed six people in October 2006.

The domestic natural gas-directed rig count is at a two-decade high, gas well completions are at a record high, and the number of seismic crews searching for gas onshore has increased, but the production of dry gas in the United States has remained essentially flat at 50 Bcf/d since early 2002, an official with the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said last Monday.

The domestic natural gas-directed rig count is at a two-decade high, gas well completions are at a record high, and the number of seismic crews searching for gas onshore has increased, but the production of dry gas in the United States has remained essentially flat at 50 Bcf/d since early 2002, an official with the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said Monday.

While not even coming close to the power of 2002’s Hurricane Lili, 2003’s Hurricane Claudette showed Tuesday that she could still make a dent in the Gulf of Mexico’s natural gas and oil output. The industry in Houston, however, appeared to be taking the “bad weather” in stride, moving personnel in from offshore rigs, but preparing to send them right back out again. For gas prices also, it appeared to be a ho-hum event, with prices Tuesday generally up a few pennies.

Crews were already starting to leave platforms Thursday in theMobile Bay area, but it was hard to tell from cash priceperformances, which ranged from flat to down about a nickel.Perhaps that was because virtually no shut-ins are occurring yet, aTexas trader suggested.

Just like a hurricane sends offshore rig crews to shore, atempest on the stock market can drive investors to the relativesafety of utility stocks. While many energy company stock pricesare buckling under the weight of the declining market, some utilitystocks are faring rather well, thank you. Duke Energy is anexample.