Domestic

Fort Worth-based independent XTO Energy Inc. said Wednesday it has added an estimated 83 Bcf of proved reserves in several transactions that increased its positions in Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Colorado.

Fort Worth-based independent XTO Energy Inc. said Wednesday it has added an estimated 83 Bcf of proved reserves in several transactions that increased its positions in Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Colorado.

Two prominent analysts last week predicted that domestic dry gas production would decline by at least 2%/year for the foreseeable future. Both Southwest Securities and Lehman Brothers conducted surveys of top producers and found a continuing struggle to grow production despite substantial rig count increases.

Continuing with its plan to increase domestic production, Noble Energy Inc. said Monday that the Louisiana State Lease 340 No. 1 (Mound Point Prospect) has been drilled and evaluated to a measured depth of 19,024 feet. The company noted that evaluation of the logs and cores indicate that there are three middle Miocene aged sands with a total of 111 feet of net natural gas pay. Houston-based Noble Energy and its partners said they plan to complete the Mound Point Prospect well with production expected to come on early in the fourth quarter. Noble Energy holds a 24.98% working interest in the prospect. El Paso Production Co. is the operator with a 31.98% working interest, while ChevronTexaco Corp. has a 42.98% working interest. The remaining private partner owns 0.056%. Noble Energy also reported that it has recently spudded another deep shelf prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, Eugene Island 317. Eugene Island 317 is designed to drill to a total depth of 18,500 feet. Noble Energy is the operator with a 66.67% working interest with Spinnaker Exploration Company holding the remaining 33.3% stake. Although Noble Energy’s first quarter 2003 production volumes declined by 1% to 101,235 boe/d when compared to 1Q2002’s volume of 102,416 boe/d, the company’s 1Q2003 production was higher than that of 4Q2002, with overall volumes increasing more than 4% from 96,898 boe/d (see Daily GPI, May 1).

Answering the call for increased domestic natural gas production in the light of a tight natural gas supply market, Magnum Hunter said last week that it upped its gas production from an average of 73,424 Mcf/d during the fourth quarter of 2001 to 130,655 Mcf/d for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, partly due to a major acquisition.

Answering the call for increased domestic natural gas production, Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. said new production has commenced from its West Cameron Block 426 located on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the Irving, TX-based company said it anticipates the start of new production from West Cameron Block 416 later this week, Ship Shoal 28 next month and West Cameron Block 428 within ten weeks.

Assets may be sold, the domestic and global power plant expansions may be curtailed, but one thing is certain: Mirant has no intention of exiting the risk marketing and trading arena.

Raymond James analysts have an “unusually high degree of confidence” that domestic natural gas-driven stock prices will move up in an “unusually short period of time,” and now believe that there is a better than 75% probability that gas leveraged energy stocks will move up significantly in the next six to eight weeks.

UBS Warburg Energy, which launched a domestic energy trading arm when it took over Enron Corp.’s decimated energy trading platform earlier this year, has decided to shutter its Houston offices and consolidate operations in Stamford, CT.