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Several state senators introduced legislation last week designed to help spur investment in the natural gas industry.

The oil shale reserves in the Green River Formation are equal to the world’s proven oil reserves, according to the federal government.

Arkansas should increase its severance tax rate on natural gas production, including production from the Fayetteville Shale, to help pay for road repairs in gas producing areas, said Sheffield Nelson, former CEO of Arkla Inc., the state’s largest gas company. Nelson was among those who pushed for the state’s last severance tax increase three years ago.

Apparently any “storm hype,” which seemed to help buoy the market earlier in the week, was getting totally dismissed as prices sank at all but one point Friday, most often by double-digit amounts. Instead, the near-imminent diminution of most remaining cooling load and the weekend factor of considerably lower industrial demand were more persuasive to traders in sending cash prices lower.

Seneca Resources Corp., a subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co., is in the hunt to secure more joint venture (JV) partners to help develop the company’s Marcellus Shale portfolio, company officials said Wednesday.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will host a three-day energy conference in Richmond next month that he said will cover every aspect of doing energy business in the state, which he has promoted as becoming “the energy capital of the East coast.”

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that will help promote solar thermal water heating installations as part of the state’s ongoing 10-year, billion-dollar solar initiative program.

The cash market had plenty of help in achieving increases at most locations Wednesday. There was the previous day’s rally by August futures, rising temperatures in several regions boosting power generation demand, and the lingering potential for a tropical storm approaching the offshore production area by early next week.

Cost pressures, which in some areas already have begun to intensify, should help U.S. natural gas prices recover over the next few years to between $6.50/MMBtu and $7/MMBtu, an energy analyst said Wednesday.