Leads

Since the cessation of injections at two natural gas saltwater disposal wells in the Fayetteville Shale nearly two weeks ago, a swarm of earthquakes there that began last summer seems to have died down, a researcher said. However, it will be at least a few more weeks before any link between the wells and quakes might be seen, and with how much certainty remains unclear.

Learning how to tap successfully into the Marcellus Shale has come at a big cost and a lot of work, and the producer continues to find ways to become more cost efficient, Range Resources Corp. COO Jeff Ventura said Tuesday.

Surprise, surprise! A screen spike nearly always leads to higher next-day cash prices, and Wednesday’s record-high daily settlement for a prompt month would have seemed to have extra potency in its impact. But prices Thursday bowed instead to generally tepid weather fundamentals and to growing indications that Hurricane Katrina will not make it to the eastern end of the Gulf of Mexico production area and instead will be diminishing power generation load in the Southeast by early next week.

It may have seemed unlikely that the Northeast would repeat the price fireworks of last Friday and Tuesday when Transco Zone 6-New York City topped out at $30 in leading multi-dollar gains at area citygates. Well, not only were Northeast numbers skyrocketing again Thursday, but they surpassed the earlier super-bullishness.

Traders braced for what promised to be extra-cold weather developing in most of the East over the weekend by sending prices higher at all points Friday. As often happens, Northeast citygates led all advances, which ranged from a dime to more than $1.30. The smallest increases were concentrated in the West, where relatively moderate conditions will prevail in most of the region outside the Pacific Northwest until about midweek.

For the fourth year in a row, London-based BP plc topped the rankings for the leading oil and natural gas companies and also was a leader in reserves replacement, according to a study by Prudential Equity Group. Prudential studied eight majors’ year-end reports between 1999 and 2003, analyzing production income, earnings quality, reserve replacement ratios, finding and development costs, future net cash flow and the return on exploration and production (E&P) activities.

For the fourth year in a row, London-based BP plc topped the rankings for the leading oil and natural gas companies and also was a leader in reserves replacement, according to a study by Prudential Equity Group. Prudential studied eight majors’ year-end reports between 1999 and 2003, analyzing production income, earnings quality, reserve replacement ratios, finding and development costs, future net cash flow and the return on exploration and production (E&P) activities.

For the fourth year in a row, London-based BP plc topped the rankings for the leading oil and natural gas companies and also was a leader in reserves replacement, according to a study by Prudential Equity Group. Prudential studied eight majors’ year-end reports between 1999 and 2003, analyzing production income, earnings quality, reserve replacement ratios, finding and development costs, future net cash flow and the return on exploration and production (E&P) activities.

The natural gas market’s ability to soar nearly $2/MMBtu in the span of a couple weeks despite near record high levels of working gas in storage is part of an annual pattern that is occurring, said energy consultant Stephen Smith of Natchez, MS-based Stephen Smith Energy Associates.