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Boosted by activity in the Marcellus Shale and Mississippian Lime, Range Resources Inc. said Thursday it has beaten its 3Q2012 forecast for natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) production, with output up 47% year/year (y/y) and 10% sequentially.

Expanding its presence in the Bakken Shale region, Global Partners LP has agreed to acquire a 60% membership interest in Basin Transload LLC, which operates two transloading facilities in North Dakota with a combined rail loading capacity of 160,000 b/d.

Without counting the ongoing switch to alternative transportation fuels such as natural gas, nearly 80% of current oil consumption used for transportation worldwide could be eliminated in the next 40 years through aggressive fuel efficiency programs, according to two reports released in Paris by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an autonomous nonprofit organization. The IEA reports conclude that the “right policies and technologies” could improve vehicular fuel efficiency by 50% by the middle of the century. According to the IEA, the transportation sector accounts for 20% of world energy consumption and increased demand in the sector is expected to comprise all future growth in oil use globally. However, the reports contend that there is “massive potential” for fuel efficiency improvements to reduce transport fuel demand. One report, “Technology Roadmap: Fuel Economy for Road Vehicles,” outlines technologies to make vehicles much more efficient by 2030, and the second, “Policy Pathway: Improving the Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles,” outlines policy changes in fuel economy labeling, standards and fiscal policies.

Drilling technologies have transformed the competitive landscape within the oil and gas industry and altered the traditional pricing relationship between crude oil and natural gas, but there’s still plenty of room for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services to grow, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

It has been around for more than 30 years, long before the state’s current oil/gas boom, but North Dakota’s six months of confidentiality provided new wells is taking on greater interest in the midst of the competitive exploration and production (E&P) push throughout the industry.

The Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales have exactly what the U.S. gas market doesn’t need right now: more gas on the way, according to natural gas analysts at Barclays Capital. They titled their latest note — an analysis of the effects of upcoming pipeline debottlenecking in the two plays — “Unleashing a Caged Monster.”

Unconventional oil and gas drilling within the 13 plays tracked by NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count increased by one rig over the previous week to 890 rigs for the week ending Aug. 10. While some of the plays reporting increases or declines in activity were to be expected, others came as a bit of a surprise.

Access Midstream Partners LP, formerly Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP, reported that net income jumped more than 25% year/year in part because of increased business in the Marcellus and Barnett shales.

The flood of new natural gas supplies from U.S. shale exploration combined with stagnant demand due to the current U.S. economic woes lead natural gas prices to decline across the country by 38-49% from the first six months of 2011 to the first six months of 2012, according to research done by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).