Leading

As Royal Dutch Shell plc gets closer to announcing a “world class” ethane cracker for the Appalachian Basin, the leading processor of ethane in the region is standing behind its three projects for Marcellus and Utica shales.

Gastar Exploration Ltd. has signed a lease with Bayer AG to drill Marcellus Shale gas wells on 1,400 gross acres in New Martinsville, a site that is being touted as a possible location for an ethane cracker in West Virginia.

With ethane prices down more than 30% in January alone, consumers and analysts on the consuming end of the ethane pipeline might be tempted to say the market is moving toward saturation. Not so, said Enterprise Products Partners COO Jim Teague; the bears are “talking their book.

Former Petrohawk Energy Corp. CEO Floyd C. Wilson, under the banner of Halcon Resources LLC, is leading a charge to buy Tulsa-based Ram Energy Resources Inc., a small-cap explorer that operates primarily in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Former Petrohawk Energy Corp. CEO Floyd C. Wilson, who recently created Halcon Resources LLC, is leading a charge to buy Tulsa-based Ram Energy Resources Inc., a small-cap explorer that operates primarily in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Water well testing procedures used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) near natural gas drilling sites in Pavillion, WY, were flawed, leading to results that failed to account for naturally occurring chemicals, Encana Corp. officials claimed on Tuesday.

Although the full House hasn’t acted on its pipeline safety re-authorization legislation yet, a leading Department of Transportation (DOT) official said she is confident that the bill will clear Congress this year.

October natural gas retreated Tuesday as not all traders are on board with historical seasonal weakness leading to higher prices and the funds and managed accounts being unwilling to push the market lower from present price levels. October lost 3.1 cents to $3.798 and November shed 4.7 cents to $3.885. October crude oil rose $1.19 to $86.89/bbl.

Three of the top four natural gas marketers reported volume declines compared with the year-ago period, and 24 leading companies had total sales transactions of 123.44 Bcf/d in 2Q2011, a 3.50 Bcf/d (3%) decrease from the 126.94 Bcf/d they transacted in 2Q2010, according to NGI’s 2Q2011 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.