Crude

Southwestern Energy Co., anchored by its massive natural gas production machine in the Fayetteville Shale, on Friday said gas and crude oil output reached 90 Bcfe in the first three months of this year, a 41% jump from the year-ago period.

Drilling activity in Texas declined steadily through April, reflecting “very weak natural gas markets and defying a crude price rally,” according to the Texas Petro Index (TPI), which was issued on Friday. Employment in the state’s exploration and production (E&P) industry has dropped to its lowest level since January 2008.

Drilling activity in Texas declined steadily through April, reflecting “very weak natural gas markets and defying a crude price rally,” according to the Texas Petro Index (TPI), which was issued on Friday. Employment in the state’s exploration and production (E&P) industry has dropped to its lowest level since January 2008.

Stone Energy Corp. expects to receive $113 million from unwinding most of its 2009 natural gas and crude oil hedges, the company said Monday.

The recent decline in the price of domestic natural gas came partially in sympathy with plummeting crude oil prices, “but also because of the increasing fall gas storage surplus, which has occurred despite extended [hurricane] Gustav/Ike gas shut-ins, extremely low liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and colder-than-normal fall weather,” an energy analyst said in a review.

Domestic natural gas and crude oil production is “indispensable” if the United States intends to overcome its addiction to foreign oil, the incoming chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) said this week.

The financial meltdown, combined with the steep slide in crude oil prices and growth in domestic production, has been a constant drag on natural gas prices over the past months and relief isn’t expected anytime soon, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for November.

The financial meltdown, combined with the steep slide in crude oil prices and growth in domestic production, has been a constant drag on natural gas prices over the past month, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook for November. And it says the outlook is not expected to improve anytime soon.

Even with natural gas futures price at $6.78/Mcf and crude oil futures trading at about $63/bbl — less than half of their summer peak — energy is expected to remain a priority issue when the 111th Congress convenes in January, Capitol Hill aides and legislative experts say.