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Agreements between two oil and gas producers and a small Front Range Colorado town have added to the state’s rules covering hydraulic fracturing and depend solely on the state for enforcement. Memoranda of understanding (MOU) inked separately by Encana Oil & Gas Co. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. with the city of Erie, CO, include several best management practices mutually agreed to with city officials and incorporated into state permitting requirements for new wells.

While future U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) depend on decisions by the federal government, the ultimate volumes and prices involved will be driven by the global natural gas market, which is rapidly being reshaped, according to a report released Wednesday by a professor at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) said it would “review and consider” an industry report’s claims that the agency has significantly overestimated methane emissions from natural gas well operations, particularly from unconventional wells using hydraulic fracturing. It contends, however, that its emissions estimates are based on the best data available.

Even with the huge Marcellus Shale, the high cost of natural gas vehicles and a lack of infrastructure to fuel the vehicles may deter growth in the state, according to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The Northeast, Great Lakes and Southwest areas of the United States will remain mostly warmer than normal over the next three months, continuing a trend that kept a lid on natural gas consumption and prices through most of the winter, according to forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI). But conditions may be ripe for a cooler-than-normal summer overall this year, WSI said.

Some of Halliburton Co.’s pressure pumping deliveries in North America originally planned for this year will be deferred to 2013 to deal with “inefficiencies” that followed onshore producers moving from dry natural gas plays to more liquids-rich regions, company executives said Wednesday.

The Heinz Endowment is looking for another university or entity to host and develop its Marcellus Shale research programs after an apparent falling out with the University of Pittsburgh.

A “world-class” ethane cracker and ethylene derivatives facility, fed by shale gas reserves, is being evaluated by Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP for siting in the Gulf Coast region.

A glimmer of hope has emerged in the natural gas and oil industry, but commodity price forecasts still are uncertain because a price recovery will depend on the success of global stimulus packages that use energy as a driver, the pace of economic recovery and the magnitude of North American gas reserves, energy analysts said in new reports.