December

A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows states with significant oil and natural gas resources fared the best in weathering the recession from December 2007 to June 2009.

A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows states with significant oil and natural gas resources did the best in weathering the recession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009.

Just days after it announced that it would suspend drilling in the Huron Shale, EQT Corp. said Thursday that its 2011 earnings totaled $479.8 million and annual production increased more than 44% from a year ago, to 194.4 Bcfe.

Hess Corp.’s total crude oil and natural gas production fell in 2011 and it suffered a net loss in the fourth quarter, but company officials said Wednesday they are confident this year will be better as the company commits to developing its growing North American unconventional portfolio.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead wrote the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, on Monday complaining that his state has yet to get a full response from EPA to questions it raised about the federal agency’s two test wells near Pavillion, WY.

At its final meeting of the year in December, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved two final rules that require market participants to report transaction data in a real-time fashion, and to report swap data when the transaction is first executed and over the lifetime of the swap.

Generally moderating forecasts for Friday that had The Weather Channel’s website asking “Late December…or Fall?” in its daily headline Thursday were a factor in Northeast quotes joining the softening trend that had begun on the previous day in the rest of the market. A small prior-day futures loss contributed a bit to downturns by all but a couple of trading locations.

December weather has been relatively mild so far, but the nation’s northern tier can expect temperatures to average colder than normal until at least early spring, according to forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI).

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appears poised to call a special session of the legislature in mid-December to discuss, and hopefully pass, a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill.