Dollars

States are being shortchanged hundreds of millions of dollars by low-ball royalties for oil and natural gas development on federal lands, a report released Thursday by a Denver-based nonpartisan think tank says, based on an analysis of five western states, plus North Dakota and Texas.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., whose central operations are in the Marcellus Shale, said Monday it plans to use natural gas to power hydraulic fracturing (fracking) equipment in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Royal Dutch Shell plc said Tuesday it’s ready to invest “several hundred million dollars” in promising technology companies to accelerate innovations that might add value to its operations.

The state of Texas is losing billions of dollars because of tax rate deductions for unconventional natural gas wells drilled using hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which are classified as “high-cost wells,” according to a report by the state Legislative Budget Board (LBB).

Low natural gas prices have created a buying opportunity among dry gas-directed companies for larger players whose pockets are lined with oil dollars, according to consultancy Deloitte. And in the midstream, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will be propelled by a consolidation trend among master limited partnerships (MLP), according to a midyear report on M&A activity.

Low natural gas prices have created a buying opportunity among dry gas-directed companies for larger players whose pockets are lined with oil dollars, according to consultancy Deloitte. And in the midstream, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will be propelled by a consolidation trend among master limited partnerships (MLP), according to the firm’s midyear report on M&A activity.

Along with billions of dollars to make over its natural gas pipeline system, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) with 50,000 miles of distribution and transmission pipes is depending on all of its employees to speak up in identifying unsafe equipment, systems and processes, PG&E gas executive Nick Stavropoulos told NGI.

Institutional investor groups representing trillions of dollars in assets have called on the oil and natural gas industry to use best practice control technologies to reduce global methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of unconventional wells.

There are billions of dollars worth of assets on the market and “plenty of money” available to Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. as it pursues several potential acquisitions in the gas market, Exco Resources Inc. CEO Doug Miller said during a conference call with analysts Wednesday.