Declined

The average monthly bill of residential customers of natural gas utilities declined for a fourth consecutive year and — perhaps not coincidentally — customer satisfaction increased by seven points compared to last year, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

Natural gas storage companies say they are not concerned that Pennsylvania will run out of underground capacity, despite last winter’s mild weather, higher-than-normal amounts of gas already in storage and increased production from the Marcellus Shale.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has completed its first multi-asset transaction with Chesapeake Energy Corp. to acquire the profitable midstream businesses, closing Monday on the $2 billion acquisition of Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM).

Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling declined nearly 7% in the first five months of this year from the same period of 2011, in part as operators began moving from dry gas to wetter targets, according to data from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling declined nearly 7% in the first five months of this year from the same period of 2011 in part as operators began moving from dry gas to wetter targets, according to data from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Lower 48 gas production in January climbed half a percent or 0.36 Bcf/d, to a record 72.85 Bcf/d, mainly thanks to production gains in states in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “other states” category, which included drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale.

From 2005 through 2011 the share of natural gas in the Texas power generation market declined while the use of out-of-state coal increased, causing a $7.7 billion economic loss to the Lone Star State, according to a new study. Texas is, after all, the country’s top producing state for natural gas, the study authors said, and the decline of its use in Texas runs counter to national trends.

A FERC official Tuesday declined to give an indication of when the agency would act on the proposed Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities.

Two environmental groups are asking the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reconsider its decision to allow WPX Energy Inc. to drill unconventional natural gas wells into the Mancos Shale play in northwest New Mexico’s San Juan Basin.