Fewer

It may take some time before fewer drilling rigs and curtailed output make a dent in domestic onshore natural gas production. Dry gas production skyrocketed 11.6% in January from a year earlier to 2,047 Bcf gross, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

As the clock was winding down for counties to sign on to the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale impact fee, also known as Act 13, a Commonwealth Court judge pushed back the start date for portions of the law to give local governments more time to adopt its standardized zoning measures.

Seneca Resources Corp., the exploration and production (E&P) arm of National Fuel Gas Co., has curtailed some Marcellus Shale production, is delaying some well completion activities there and possibly may not participate in some joint venture wells with partner EOG Resources Inc. because of low natural gas prices, the company said Monday.

A total of 13,350 wells are expected to be drilled across Canada in 2012, 1,750 (11.6%) fewer than previously forecast but still 4% more than the 12,917 wells drilled in 2011, according to the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC).

Utah is looking for fewer roadblocks from the U.S. government to allow it to achieve its own brand of “energy independence,” Gov. Gary Herbert said Wednesday night in his state of the state address emphasizing his state’s growing economy, which has lowered unemployment to 6%.

As Pennsylvania legislators continue to work out a compromise on natural gas drilling impact fee legislation, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) on Friday urged leaders in Harrisburg “to avoid the temptation of crafting policy in a vacuum and instead design a fee and regulatory structure that not only provides heightened safeguards to the public, but also a competitive investment climate.”

In a paper released Thursday, researchers from Cornell University firmly stood by an earlier claim that shale gas has a larger greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint than conventional gas and oil or coal, and thus would be an unsuitable bridge fuel.

New and continuously improving drilling technologies have handed producers the keys to unlock more onshore natural gas and oil reserves with fewer wells and at a lower cost, but today’s innovations have only scratched the rock’s surface, a Schlumberger Ltd. executive said recently.

New and continuously improving drilling technologies have handed producers the keys to unlock more onshore natural gas and oil reserves with fewer wells and at a lower cost, but today’s innovations have only scratched the rock’s surface, a Schlumberger Ltd. executive said recently.