Helps

Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. is considering a plan to exit shale development in Poland, a move that helps the company focus elsewhere but is also a blow to what was once considered Europe’s best source for shale natural gas and a hedge against pipeline gas supplies from Russia.

Just days after a town in western New York adopted a one-year moratorium on oil and natural gas activities, the town’s only operator made a rare move and decided to shut down its wells and pipelines there, halting royalty payments and free natural gas to landowners.

With rig counts, prices and liquids all moving up, the incidence of natural gas flaring in the Bakken Shale play is expected to continue to decline throughout this year, the head of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, Ron Ness, told NGI’s Shale Daily Wednesday, responding to questions about a report on the state’s record-setting oil/gas operations from the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

The shift to shales — and the rise in oil prices — has lifted the domestic rig count close to 20-year highs and shifted the landscape, helped several states join Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in the chase for natural gas and oil production, according to Headwaters Economics.

Energy conservation is good for the environment and helps consumers save money, but it also bolsters the esteem in which utilities are held by their customers, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

Energy conservation is good for the environment and helps consumers save money, but it also bolsters the esteem in which utilities are held by their customers, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

As anticipated, the previous day’s futures plunge of nearly 30 cents was reflected by overall softness in Tuesday’s cash market. But there was enough hot weather demand to distribute pockets of flat to higher prices here and there.

After apparently disconnecting from crude oil futures on Friday (see Daily GPI, May 24), the June natural gas futures contract reestablished a link with its big brother Monday as oil supply fears compounded by a platform shutdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday helped push crude and natural gas significantly higher.

Making it the second day in a row for double-digit gains, the Nymex May natural gas futures contract on Tuesday looked like it had no intention of exiting meekly when expiration rolls around Wednesday. As the prompt month successor, June also put on a strong performance, settling 9.9 cents up on the day to close at $5.97.