Exposure

Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. said Monday it will market its Texas Panhandle oil and gas assets after having received unsolicited interest in the properties. A deal could garner $1 billion or more and would be “transformative” for the company, one analyst said.

All but two of Encana Corp.’s 35 shut-in natural gas wells were back in service Tuesday in the Piceance Basin as the danger from the Pine Ridge fire along the Western Slope in Colorado continued to subside. The two remaining shut-in wells are “low-producing” and located in the north end of the Piceance, an Encana spokesperson told NGI.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) pipelines have virtually no exposure to low natural gas prices, but they are subject to shifting continental gas flows, particularly those resulting from developing shale gas supply basins.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) pipelines have virtually no exposure to low natural gas prices, but they are subject to shifting continental gas flows, particularly those resulting from developing shale gas supply basins.

The growth of the Marcellus Shale likely won’t be constrained by market demand, despite a projected seven-fold increase in production from the play over the next 15 years, according to FBR Capital Markets.

A Pennsylvania township has filed lawsuit against its county board of elections, arguing that a referendum put forth by an environmental group that would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the township violates several state laws and could expose the municipality to legal action by the industry and others.

South Korea’s state-run Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer, is joining the Cordova Embayment natural gas project in British Columbia.

May natural gas futures gained ground in active trading Wednesday as traders covered short positions in seeking to minimize exposure over the upcoming three-day weekend and not get caught on the wrong side of what could be a developing market trend. At the end of the day May had risen 4.8 cents to $4.310 and June gained 4.7 cents to $4.357. May crude oil vaulted higher $3.17 to $111.45/bbl.

Few opportunities opened this year for exploration and production (E&P) companies to hedge their natural gas production and now are entering 2011 with an elevated exposure to gas prices, Raymond James & Associates Inc. analysts said last week.