Eighth

A natural gas-fired Honda passenger vehicle was named the top-ranked clean vehicle for the eighth consecutive year earlier in February, and Chrysler Group LLC, a unit of Italy-based Fiat SpA, announced last Friday it was considering making a compressed natural gas (CNG) version of its popular Ram truck.

As EQT Corp. marks its eighth consecutive quarter of natural gas sales growth, the company is barreling ahead in the Marcellus Shale. CEO David Porges told financial analysts last week that EQT’s Marcellus economics are better than previously thought and the prospect of increased regulation and a severance tax in Pennsylvania are not a threat.

As EQT Corp. marks its eighth consecutive quarter of natural gas sales growth, the company is barreling ahead in the Marcellus Shale. Wednesday CEO David Porges told financial analysts that EQT’s Marcellus economics are better than previously thought and the prospect of increased regulation and a severance tax in Pennsylvania are not a threat.

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. said last Tuesday it would pay an estimated $15.7 million to acquire a one-eighth (12.5%) stake in 16 of Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc.’s Barnett Shale drilling units, including six recently completed wells. Sumitomo is said to be the first Japanese company to participate in the U.S. gas shale business.

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. said Tuesday it would pay an estimated $15.7 million to acquire a one-eighth (12.5%) stake in 16 of Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc.’s Barnett Shale drilling units, including six recently completed wells. Sumitomo is said to be the first Japanese company to participate in the U.S. gas shale business.

Calgary-based Nexen Inc. is reviewing alternatives for its natural gas and power marketing businesses, which may include the sale of all or part of them. Nexen’s marketing business was the eighth largest North American gas marketer in the first quarter of this year, according to NGI’s Top North American Gas Marketers survey. The firm transacted about 5.1 Bcf/d during the quarter. Earlier this year Nexen scaled back its marketing operations (see NGI, May 4; Feb. 16). The company said it has selected an adviser to assist with this initiative to continue the alignment of its marketing activities with its upstream oil and gas business. Nexen has operations in the North Sea, Western Canada (including the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta and unconventional gas resource plays such as shale gas and coalbed methane), the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, offshore West Africa and the Middle East.

As the stock market suffered its eighth straight day of losses Friday and the Dow flirted with the 8,000 mark, several more domestic oil and natural gas producers reported that they were cutting their planned capital expenditures (capex) for the rest of the year and/or 2009 and were rolling back their drilling programs or postponing planned acquisitions in order to preserve capital liquidity. Producers said they also had taken steps to shore up their bank credit lines.

British Columbia (BC) is posting its eighth annual increase in natural gas reserves while continuing a streak of strong monthly drilling rights sales, amid rising expectations that provincial output and exports will keep on growing at an accelerating rate.

British Columbia (BC) is posting its eighth annual increase in natural gas reserves while continuing a streak of strong monthly drilling rights sales, amid rising expectations that provincial output and exports will keep on growing at an accelerating rate.