Fell

Southwestern Energy Co. is producing about 400 MMcf/d in the Marcellus Shale and doesn’t foresee any constraints in moving natural gas to markets north or south for the next couple of years, executives said Friday.

ExxonMobil Corp. fell from its No. 1 position on the Fortune 500 of top revenue earners last year to No. 2 behind Wal-Mart Stores, Fortune reported on Monday.

Low natural gas prices have hit Pennsylvania, where deep-shale drilling fees collected last year fell about 3% from 2011, according to state data.

The overall cash market averaged close to 8 cents higher Friday, but if the widely fluctuating gains and losses of eastern points are subtracted, the market fell close to a nickel for weekend and Monday deliveries.

Gulf of Mexico operator McMoRan Exploration Co. on Friday reported a big loss in the final three months of 2012 because of impairments and a sharp revenue decrease related in part to its gassy shallow-water operations.

Upstart onshore operator Halcon Resources Corp. expects to produce 17,000-20,000 boe/d in the final three months of this year and should produce 40,000-45,000 boe/d in 2013, management said Thursday.

Natural gas production in Alaska fell to 4.05 Bcf/d in August, down 39.3% compared to 6.67 Bcf/d in July — and was down 40.3% from 6.79 Bcf/d in August 2011 — while Hurricane Isaac clamped down on output in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and Louisiana, keeping total U.S. production down 3.4% compared to the previous month, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report.

A record percentage of New Yorkers now support hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and opposition to the practice fell to a low point in October, according to figures from a Siena College Research Institute poll released Friday.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), the largest oilfield equipment supplier in North America, beat profit forecasts in 3Q2012 on solid demand in the deepwater and overseas, but the U.S. land drilling market has stalled, executives said Thursday.