Early

Natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales should double over the next five years, surpassing Rockies output levels from 2012 and accounting for “over a quarter of U.S. Lower 48 gas production,” Wood Mackenzie upstream analysts are forecasting.

Baker Hughes Inc. executives on Friday said the total U.S. rig count should fall on average by 8% this year from 2012, but with better drilling efficiencies, the onshore well count may only decline by 4% to around 35,000.

Summit Midstream Partners LLC plans to significantly expand its crude oil and water gathering system in North Dakota’s Williams and Divide counties in the Bakken Shale, the Dallas-based partnership said.

An explosion early Tuesday morning on the Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) pipeline in Washington Parish, LA, 80 miles north of New Orleans destroyed a mobile home and caused the evacuation of 55 area residents. Gas supplies moving on the west-to-east pipeline were rerouted, operator Energy Transfer Partners said. No injuries were reported

Organizers at a meeting in early June in Indonesia will be reviewing the beta testing of an international natural gas database expected to be launched to the public later this year. About 70 countries representing about 75% of global natural gas supply and demand are currently submitting data to the JODI-Gas (Joint Organizations Data Initiative) database on a monthly basis. JODI-Gas joins JODI-Oil, which has been in operation for 10 years providing information on oil production, consumption and trade movements. The database initiative is designed to increase transparency of oil and gas supply and demand. The agenda at the Third Gas Data Transparency Conference June 4-5 in Indonesia will also involve an expert review of the final draft of the JODI-Gas Training Manual, and establishing a timeline for the public launch the JODI-Gas database later this year. Organizations involved in the data and transparency initiative include the International Energy Forum, Eurostat, the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Latin American Energy Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the United Nations statistics division.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP is in the early planning stages for its Northeast-to-Gulf Coast natural gas liquids pipeline with Williams, but the partnership has been talking with prospective customers “at both ends of the pipe.”

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP is in the early planning stages for its Northeast-to-Gulf Coast natural gas liquids pipeline with Williams, but the partnership has been talking with prospective customers “at both ends of the pipe.”

Planning for the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, which would carry mixed natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast, is still in early stages, but the project has piqued the curiosity of analysts who follow Bluegrass partner Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP.

A bill that would allow companies to classify as trade secrets chemicals and concentrations used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids passed the muster of a key committee on Tuesday, and is nearing final passage in the West Virginia Legislature.