Indicating

Six energy prognosticators over the past week have raised their outlooks for domestic natural gas prices this year, with one indicating that $4.50/MMBtu this summer is “on the table” based on a colder-than-expected end to winter and slowing production in major onshore basins.

The growth of the natural gas industry in the heart of Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study issued by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED).

Permits and production are soaring in the Niobrara Shale where Chesapeake Energy is indicating it has unlocked some important finds as it eyes the play as a significant contributor to its strategy for expanding its production of natural gas liquids (NGL).

Following a series of tests indicating that water from private wells in Dimock Township, PA, is safe to drink, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Wednesday said it has determined “that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the agency” and it has no plans to further test water samples in the township.

Following a series of tests indicating that water from private wells in Dimock Township, PA, is safe to drink, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday said it has determined “that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the agency” and it has no plans to further test water samples in the township.

For a second consecutive year, the vibrant history of North Dakota’s oil and natural gas drilling has been replicated in a large illustrated map indicating all 3,461 wells in the Bakken and Three Forks formation at the end of 2011. The map was jointly published by the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) and Energy/Environmental Research Center.

In a landmark agreement announced Thursday, a drilling unit of Chesapeake Energy Corp. will allow more than 4,400 New York landowners locked into natural gas leases the opportunity to renegotiate their contracts, said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

With survey data indicating steady future growth, the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel is gaining momentum in a variety of fleet vehicle operations in four key areas — economics, manufacture of vehicles, fueling infrastructure and public policy support, according to Richard Kolodziej, president of Washington, DC-based NGVAmerica.

California Gov. Jerry Brown said last Friday that he plans to take a closer look at the oil/gas industry’s use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state, speaking at a renewable energy conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and to news media afterwards.