Horizon

December natural gas closed lower Tuesday as traders elected to join a bearish feeding frenzy and saw no bullish developments on the horizon that would preclude prices working another 20 cents lower. At the closing bell December had fallen 5.4 cents to $3.404 and January had retreated 5.8 cents to $3.542. December crude oil continued its march to the century mark and posted a gain of $1.23 to $99.37/bbl.

Chevron Corp. will continue to expand its unconventional natural gas operations in the United States but it first will focus on the Marcellus Shale, Vice Chairman George Kirkland said Friday.

With hints of rising prices on the horizon, 24 leading natural gas marketers had total transactions of 135.07 Bcf/d in 1Q2011, a 2.49 Bcf/d (1.9%) increase from the 132.58 Bcf/d they transacted in the year-ago period, according to NGI’s 1Q2011 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

With hints of rising prices on the horizon, 24 leading natural gas marketers had total transactions of 135.07 Bcf/d in 1Q2011, a 2.49 Bcf/d (1.9%) increase from the 132.58 Bcf/d they transacted in the year-ago period, according to NGI’s 1Q2011 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

Analysts for FBR Capital Markets called the Interior Department’s issuance of the first deepwater drilling permit since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig a “positive incremental step toward normalization of the regulatory environment” in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), but they cautioned investors against chasing stocks with GOM exposure in the near term.

Newfield Exploration Co. said it will spend about $1.7 billion this year on exploration and production activity, with two-thirds directed to oil plays and the rest focused on liquids-rich natural gas. The amount is equivalent to the company’s estimate of 2011 cash flow from operations.

An investigation into the cause of the blowout of BP plc’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig “suggest[s] the lack of a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks, uncertainties and dangers associated with deepwater drilling operations and a failure to learn from previous ‘near misses,'” according to preliminary findings by a committee of the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council.

An investigation into the cause of the blowout of BP plc’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig “suggest[s] the lack of a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks, uncertainties and dangers associated with deepwater drilling operations and a failure to learn from previous ‘near misses,'” according to preliminary findings by a committee of the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council.

BP plc on Friday pledged a bundle of its U.S. Gulf of Mexico assets as collateral for the $20 billion Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, which was set up to pay for disaster claims.