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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has called on FERC to withhold approval for Empire Pipeline Inc. to begin service on its Tioga County Extension until it has complied with state soil disturbance and stabilization requirements.

Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline takeaway capacity will jump to 8.5 Bcf/d by 2013, more than double its current level, according to Bentek Energy LLC.

November natural gas posted a double-digit loss Tuesday as traders cited the relentless increase in production and lack of demand growth as continuing to thwart any price advance. At the end of the day November had fallen 13.5 cents to $3.553 and December had shed 11.5 cents to $3.788. November crude oil rose $1.96 to $88.34/bbl.

Oil and gas companies operating in North Dakota’s portion of the Bakken Shale are spending about $3 billion on infrastructure projects to capture natural gas currently being lost to flaring at oil drilling sites.

The number of double-digit gains increased Tuesday as a price advance across the board occurred for the second day in a row. Although weather conditions remain generally bearish for gas prices, especially with the Northeast growing even cooler, and tropical storm menaces to offshore production virtually ruled out for the rest of the season, at least the cash market could point to Monday’s 8.1-cent increase by October futures as impetus for maintaining its firming trend.

The weekend’s double-digit losses at nearly all points were replaced by mostly single-digit declines in most of the cash market Monday, and several scattered locations were flat to mostly a little higher. The restoration of industrial demand from its usual weekend drop likely helped account for some of the diminished softness, but weather-based demand remained generally light, Atlantic tropical activity was remote, and the 6.9-cent futures fall on Friday was a third bearish factor.

Prices shot higher by double-digit amounts nearly across the board Thursday as a palpable threat to Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production grew more intense, cash numbers had substantial support from the previous day’s 14.5-cent futures rise, and some regions such as the Midwest were heating up, although their contribution to cooling load was likely to be brief.

The Utica Shale could double or triple liquids production in the Appalachian Basin, increasing the infrastructure challenges in the region, a midstream player told an audience in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Drilling in the Haynesville Shale helped Louisiana more than double its natural gas production in April from two years ago, and production in the Lower 48 states increased 10.6% (6.66 Bcf/d) to 69.05 Bcf/d during the same time period, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly natural gas report.