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In mid-October North Dakota likely exceeded last year’s record-setting oil and gas production, according to state and industry officials who were quoted in a pre-Thanksgiving report out of Bismarck, ND, by the Associated Press. Separately, other local news reports Sunday depicted state officials as worried about proposed federal rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but they told NGI’s Shale Daily the reports were exaggerated.

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.

Brian Gilvary, who has worked at BP plc for 25 years, has been named CFO effective Jan. 1 and will join the board of directors. Current CFO Byron Grote, 63, will become executive vice president, corporate business activities. Gilvary, 49, has been deputy group CFO and head of finance for BP for nearly two years. He previously was CEO of BP’s commodity trading arm, Integrated Supply and Trading (IST). He also has been a board member of TNK-BP since December, having previously also served on the board from 2003 to 2005. Grote, 63, has been CFO since 2002. In his new role he will have responsibility for BP’s IST, alternative energy and shipping businesses as well as the company’s technology and remediation management activities.

The Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a resolution last Thursday directing the city to join a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) over Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin.

The shift to shales — and the rise in oil prices — has lifted the domestic rig count close to 20-year highs and shifted the landscape, helped several states join Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in the chase for natural gas and oil production, according to Headwaters Economics.

Lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly ratified two bills calling for a comprehensive study of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking). Both bills now await the signature of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) said Wednesday it has launched a new alliance, Just Beneath the Surface (JBTS), to provide the public with information and debunk myths about the industry.

The strength of U.S. shale plays was a key driver for increased merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in 2010, and will continue to fuel the industry’s movement toward upstream assets, according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers USA (PwC).

BP plc said Monday it would join ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell plc to develop a rapid-response system to capture and contain oil and natural gas in the event of a deepwater well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).