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The Indiana Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will hear a case involving a 30-year contract for the state to purchase coal-to-substitute natural gas (SNG) from a proposed $2.8 billion gasification plant in southwestern Indiana.

When U.S. natural gas prices finally moved into $4.00/MMBtu territory earlier this year, there wasn’t any rush to ramp up onshore activity, but as each month passes, it’s becoming clear that a “large wave” of domestic demand is about to unfold, according to Barclays Capital.

BP plc’s Alaska presence will become more visible over the next five years as the oil major pours an additional $1 billion into natural gas and oil development on the North Slope with a to-do list that includes more drilling rigs and more workers.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) said it will invest $107 million to expand its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate pipeline system (KMCC) deeper into the Eagle Ford Shale play in Karnes County, TX. The expansion, supported by a long-term contract with ConocoPhillips, will extend the 178-mile pipeline 31 miles from the KMCC DeWitt Station in DeWitt County, TX, to ConocoPhillips’ central delivery facility near Helena in Karnes County. Kinder Morgan will also build receipt tanks and a truck unloading facility adjacent to ConocoPhillips’ Helena facility. Construction is expected to begin in July. “This expansion further assists our commitment to deliver up to 300,000 b/d of crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale,” said KMP products pipelines President Ron McClain.

When U.S. natural gas prices finally moved into $4.00/MMBtu territory earlier this year, there wasn’t any rush to ramp up onshore activity, but as each month passes, it’s becoming clear that a “large wave” of domestic demand is about to unfold, according to Barclays Capital.

BP plc’s Alaska presence will become more visible over the next five years as the oil major pours an additional $1 billion into natural gas and oil development on the North Slope with a to-do list that includes adding more drilling rigs and more workers, the operator said Monday.

Florida-based TECO Energy, a natural gas and electric utility holding company, said Tuesday it has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with its privately held parent company to purchase New Mexico Gas Co., that state’s principal gas utility. The aggregate value of the deal is $950 million, including the assumption of $200 million of the New Mexico utility’s debt.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee put the spotlight on two important shale policy issues during its third and final forum on natural gas Thursday: the FracFocus chemical registry and whether a middle ground can be found in the dispute between the states and federal government over regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The appetite for natural gas has extended into areas without extensive pipeline networks through trucking the fuel in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG). It is becoming a growing business, particularly for large industrial businesses.