Current

The four top natural gas producing states in the Lower 48 states — Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Wyoming — are collecting severance taxes on their dry gas of between 14.7 and 18.5 cents/Mcf based on recent gas prices, according to a review of regulations and taxes by Washington, DC-based Resources for the Future’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP).

Encana Corp. plans to continue to keep its eye on the “highest-return plays” in North America, which for the near term means more liquids and oil development and no natural gas drilling, CEO Randy Eresman said Wednesday.

Despite dry gas production curtailments and rig lay-downs nationwide, Northeast production will grow by 1 Bcf/d from its current 8.3 Bcf/d by the end of the year as the Marcellus Shale “seems impervious to the unfavorable economics,” Bentek Energy LLC said in its Forward Curve Quarterly.

Cash natural gas prices eked out a modest gain Wednesday, but traders were not optimistic prices would hold current relatively lofty levels for long. A soft bidweek is expected. Midcontinent points were firm and at Northeast and Eastern locations double-digit increases in next-day power prices helped lift next day gas. At the close of futures trading August had fallen 11.7 cents to $3.070 and September was lower by 12.5 cents to $3.052. September crude oil added 47 cents to $88.97/bbl.

Laying out a blueprint for how small- and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of the opportunities provided within the current U.S. natural gas development boom, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) has released the second in a series of recommended practices aimed at bolstering the Marcellus Shale region’s supply chain.

Houston-based Crimson Exploration Inc. said its Woodbine and Eagle Ford shale programs continue to enjoy success, contribution to second quarter production that was in the upper range of the company’s guidance.

United States natural gas production is expected to increase every year through 2035 thanks to increased shale development, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) complete version of the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (AEO2012). Just as the preliminary report released in January found (see Shale Daily, Jan. 24), the EIA also believes the United States will transition from being a net importer to a net exporter of natural gas in approximately nine years.

Years of research, development and production line changes will be needed to clean up the oilsands by replacing the current method of boiling them into flowing with steam heat, according to new projections by Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB).

A group of industrial energy consumers have urged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar not to impose “duplicative” regulations on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas wells on public lands.