Jump

Apache Corp. saw its net income jump 75% in 4Q2011 from a year earlier, lifted by higher output and strong crude prices. The producer plans to drill up to 30% more wells this year than in 2011, when it drilled 1,100 gross wells; more than half are to be in the Permian and Anadarko basins. In 4Q2011 total gas output rose 3.2%; oil output climbed 4.3%. North American gas volumes increased to 1.494 Bcf/d in 4Q2011 from 1.432 Bcf/d in 4Q2010, and from 1.478 Bcf/d in 3Q2011. Net profits totaled $1.17 billion ($2.98/share) in 4Q2011, compared with $670 million ($1.77) in 4Q2010. Revenue rose 25% to $4.3 billion.

Full-year U.S. crude production, excluding natural gas liquids (NGL), will jump by 20% by the end of this year, a full seven years ahead of Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday.

The cash- and employee-strapped Colorado state government is battling a growing oil and gas drilling permit backlog created by a combination of a 70% jump in applications between 2007 and 2010 and the recession, which shrank state government. However, oil and gas industry representatives are praising state officials for attempting to address the problem.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday reiterated the importance of natural gas to the Obama administration’s energy and job-creation programs. Salazar said his department is very active in efforts to boost gas development both on and offshore in the United States.

Calgary independent Paramount Resources Ltd., better known for its natural gas exploration, saw its stock price jump by nearly 5% in midday trading Monday after the company said it was creating a subsidiary to house its growing oilsands and bitumen businesses.

In all the hoopla surrounding the Marcellus Shale’s natural gas resources and its access to East Coast markets, it may be easy to forget that the Haynesville Shale was once the toast of the gas world. To Encana Corp., it still is.

Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline takeaway capacity will jump to 8.5 Bcf/d by 2013, more than double its current level, according to Bentek Energy LLC.

Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline takeaway capacity will jump to 8.5 Bcf/d by 2013, more than double its current level, according to Bentek Energy LLC.

Riding the Bakken shale rush, North Dakota appears in a good position to jump up to the second biggest oil producing state in the nation behind only Texas. If the upper Midwest state achieves that status next year as expected, it would leapfrog over both Alaska and California, something that would have been unthinkable five years ago.