Falling

The U.S. energy outlook is “fundamentally changed” because of the revolution in unconventional natural gas and oil production, generating strong job creation, economic growth and government revenues, IHS Inc. said Tuesday.

Natural gas marketers experienced a welcome jump in sales during the second quarter of 2012, according to NGI’s 2Q2012 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking, with 16 companies overall and eight of the top 10 — including all of the top six — reporting sales increases compared with 2Q2011.

Canadian natural gas dealers took a cold financial bath in the first half of this year, when downpours of falling sales volumes and prices cut their export revenues by 48%. Pipeline deliveries from Canada into the United States dropped 8% to 1.5 Tcf in the first half of 2012 (IH2012), down from 1.64 Tcf in the same period of 2011, according to trade records kept by the National Energy Board (NEB).

Canadian natural gas dealers took a cold financial bath in the first half of this year, when downpours of falling sales volumes and prices cut their export revenues by 48%.

Encana Corp. last week reported a net loss in 2Q2012 of $1.5 billion, nearly all from one-time charges on falling 12-month average natural gas prices. The Calgary-based producer earned $383 million in the year-ago period.

A report disputes General Accountability Office (GAO) claims that the Interior Department has been falling down on the job in its collection of revenues from oil and natural gas producers and that those revenues are among the lowest in the world. It also casts some doubt on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposal to raise the onshore royalty rate to 18.75%.

A Department of Interior (DOI)-commissioned report disputes General Accountability Office (GAO) claims that DOI has been falling down on the job in its collection of revenues from oil and natural gas producers and that those revenues are among the lowest in the world. It also casts some doubt on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposal to raise the onshore royalty rate to 18.75%.

As Marcellus Shale development has been expanding across Pennsylvania, dairy production has been falling, but it’s unclear how the two trends are connected, according to a report from Pennsylvania State University.

Two environmental groups are asking the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reconsider its decision to allow WPX Energy Inc. to drill unconventional natural gas wells into the Mancos Shale play in northwest New Mexico’s San Juan Basin.