Hitting

Hitting an all-time high in domestic U.S. energy production with shale plays as a major driver, Occidental Petroleum Corp.(Oxy) still looks to cut its natural gas production in the Midcontinent basins because of continuing low prices, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

Hitting an all-time high in domestic U.S. energy production with shale plays as a major driver, Occidental Petroleum Corp.(Oxy) still looks to cut its natural gas production in the Midcontinent basins because of continuing low prices, CEO Stephen Chazen said Thursday.

With such locations as Little Rock, AR, and Shreveport, LA, destined to reach the low to mid 100s during the weekend and most other portions of the South hitting the mid 90s or so, cash prices managed to eke out small increases again Friday. That broke a down-up-down-up pattern established in the cash market earlier in the week.

The total value of minerals produced in Wyoming last year was up 23% year over year, hitting $15.5 billion, Gov. Matt Mead announced Monday. Separately, Mead said the state was providing grants to local fire districts in the southeastern part of the state that have heavy impacts from shale gas and other mineral production.

The U.S. solar industry recorded year/year growth in 2010 amounting to a 67% increase in the industry’s market value compared to 2009, hitting $6 billion last year, compared to $3.6 billion the previous year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. SEIA called solar a “bright spot on the U.S. economy” last year as the nation’s fastest growing energy sector. There were 878 MW of photovoltaic (PV) installations and 78 MW of concentrating solar power installed last year. The PV market made the most significant strides, more than doubling installation totals from 2009, according to the report, “U.S. Solar Market Insight: Year-in-Review 2010.” Nationally, 16 states each installed more than 10 MW of PV last year, increasing from only four states in 2007. The top 10 states in order were California, New Jersey, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. The study indicated that price declines were an “important factor” in the solar expansion last year.

Hitting the ground running just hours after President Obama signed the Wall Street reform bill into law (see related story), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday released a list of 30 areas where it plans to implement new regulations.

Modest power demand growth, the rise of renewable energy, particularly wind, and a slug of new coal-fired capacity hitting the market over the next couple of years will pressure gas-fired generation, according to analysts.

Oil and natural gas industry spending on drilling and equipping wells in the United States surged again in 2007, hitting an all-time high of $226.4 billion, more than double the previous record of $109.8 billion set in 2006, according to a joint survey of drilling costs cited by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States this year will fall “well short” of the 770 Bcf seen last year, likely hitting only 420 Bcf, an amount “staggeringly below” previous projections, according to Houston-based consultancy Waterborne Energy Inc.