Drilling

Energy analysts have been looking for signs in the government’s monthly natural gas production reports about whether the pullback in drilling last year has impacted supplies, and there appears to be more indications that the market is tightening, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly report for December.

Energy analysts have been looking for signs in the government’s monthly natural gas production reports about whether the pullback in drilling last year has impacted supplies, and there appears to be more indications that the market is tightening, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly report for December.

Natural gas supplies are likely to continue growing, according to analysts at UBS Wealth Management Research, since drilling activity has increased by more than 200 rigs since early in the second half of last year.

Natural gas supplies are likely to continue growing, according to analysts at UBS Wealth Management Research, since drilling activity has increased by more than 200 rigs since early in the second half of last year.

While the Interior Department announced last week it is expanding and lengthening the process for permitting of oil and natural gas drilling on government lands (see related story), the department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has scheduled 31 renewable energy projects for fast-track environmental and public review. This will enable the projects to meet the end of the year deadline to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Goodrich Petroleum Corp., which is drilling in Texas’ Panola and Rusk counties, said the Billy Harris No. 1H, a horizontal well in a portion of the Haynesville Shale, produced into sales at a 24-hour peak production rate of 12.2 MMcf/d on a 24/64-inch choke with 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure. The well, which Goodrich owns and operates, was drilled and completed with a 5,000-foot lateral and 20 hydraulic fracturing stages. A fourth horizontal well also was completed in Goodrich’s Cotton Valley/Taylor Sand holdings. The GT Waldrop 5H, which the company also owns and operates, is in “early stages of flow back,” and to date has a 24-hour peak production rate of 4.1 MMcf/d. The producer in 2009 completed its second operated well in East Texas, the Lutheran Church 5HR in Panola County, which had an initial production rate of 9 MMcf/d on a 26/64-inch choke with 4,375 psi (see NGI, June 8, 2009).

Total domestic natural gas production levels rose in June despite depressed prices and a decline in drilling activity, but onshore output saw a decline — albeit slight — for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest production data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday.

Total domestic natural gas production levels rose in June despite depressed prices and a decline in drilling activity, but onshore output saw a decline — albeit slight — for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest production data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) took in 70% less in bid money during its Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) lease sale Wednesday than it did during a sale of drilling rights off the coast of Texas last year. Agency officials attributed the disparity to lagging natural gas prices, less participation by independent producers and an “undercurrent” of litigation that marred the latest sale.