Jumps

Houston-based EOG Resources Inc.’s total North American natural gas production rose 2.6% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, as Canadian production jumped 8.1% to 158 MMcf/d on favorable results from its shallow drilling program and U.S. gas production rose 1.1% to 642 MMcf/d. The company also enjoyed a 163% increase in domestic natural gas prices during the quarter compared with 1Q2002.

Houston-based EOG Resources Inc.’s total North American natural gas production rose 2.6% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, as Canadian production jumped 8.1% to 158 MMcf/d on favorable results from its shallow drilling program and U.S. gas production rose 1.1% to 642 MMcf/d. The company also enjoyed a 163% increase in domestic natural gas prices during the quarter compared with 1Q2002.

Natural gas producer XTO Energy Inc., based in Fort Worth, beat analysts’ production expectations last year by showing 23% production growth to an average of 517 MMcf/d compared to 417 MMcf/d in 2001.

Natural gas producer XTO Energy Inc., based in Fort Worth, beat analysts’ production expectations last year by showing 23% production growth to an average of 517 MMcf/d compared to 417 MMcf/d in 2001.

Prices continued to ride the crest of somewhat premature winter weather and strong futures to new gains Wednesday, but just barely in most cases. Rockies numbers increased by about 20-40 cents and Northeast citygates rose by 5-15 cents, but otherwise nearly all points ranged from flat to only about a nickel higher.

After reaching the lowest levels since early March, the gas futures market got a boost last week from a smaller than expected storage injection and a downward revision to prior storage data on Thursday, which provided just enough steam for the September contract to end the week closer to its weekly high of $2.80 than Wednesday’s low of $2.64. However, September only managed to eke out a small 1.6-cent gain on Friday, ending the day at $2.761, just above its daily low of $2.755. Volume was light at 38,527, compared to 95,207 on Thursday.

While sharply lower oil and gas prices took an 80% chunk out of Devon Energy’s earnings in the first quarter, the company’s oil and gas production soared, following the additions of Anderson Exploration and Mitchell Energy.

The weekly withdrawal from storage was slightly below average market expectations of about 90 Bcf but not surprising in light of the week’s warmer than normal weather. Working storage levels at 2,212 Bcf remain incredibly high with 1.1 Tcf more working gas than at the same time last year and 675 Bcf more than the five-year average.

Despite recent declines in rig utilization because of sharply lower natural gas prices, Schlumberger Reed-Hycalog’s annual rig census shows that U.S. drilling rig utilization has jumped this year to a 20-year high. High commodity prices over the past year have caused the activity level of the expanded fleet to push utilization to 93%, a level not seen since the early 1980s.