Improvements

The San Antonio, TX, metropolitan area has gained about 4,000 jobs from the Eagle Ford shale Play, and its upcoming major road improvements could tap up to $12 million annually from the oil/gas development, according to a report released Tuesday by the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

While oil production in North Dakota could more than quadruple by 2025 to more than 2 million b/d, natural gas could do even better, gaining by nearly six times over current production to 3.1 Bcf/d, according to an analysis commissioned by the state’s Pipeline Authority and performed by Bentek Energy LLC.

While the potential is widely recognized, a shale boom in Mexico akin to the rest of North America is unlikely any time soon, an analyst with the Houston office of Wood Mackenzie told NGI.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. is expanding its operations in the liquids-rich Marcellus Shale.

National Oilwell Varco Inc.’s (NOV) backlog for capital equipment orders jumped by one-third from the end of March to the end of June, the oilfield services operator said Tuesday.

Acknowledging that long-term improvements are needed, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) formally filed with state regulators Friday its multi-year plan to upgrade its natural gas pipeline infrastructure and operations to make them “one of the safest in the country.”

Because of strong drilling in North America’s onshore basins, oilfield equipment manufacturer National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) said Tuesday its rig equipment backlog at the end of September was worth an estimated $4.87 billion — more than at the end of the second quarter.

The Bush administration is increasing funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’s (NOAA) hurricane research and forecast improvements’ efforts by $13 million for fiscal year (FY) 2009, the agency said.

Recent weather-driven improvements in the U.S. natural gas market notwithstanding, Raymond James & Associates Inc. energy analysts are holding to their contrarian view on U.S. gas prices. A major gas supply increase this summer, brought on by increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments, “should translate to gas-on-gas competition” later this year.