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The United States is the undisputed leader in the development of unconventional natural gas resources. However, much of the rest of the world is on to the shale gas promise and will soon be exploiting its reserves, according to a new analysis by Douglas-Westwood.

The Cana-Woodford, Eagle Ford and Bakken/Sanish/Three Forks plays continued to lead the activity growth in unconventional fields over the last year as oil and gas producers put more weight on liquids-rich shales to take advantage of higher commodity prices found in oil and natural gas liquids. Conversely, some of the nation’s dry gas shales have seen the largest drilling activity declines as natural gas prices remain below $4/MMBtu for much of the country.

Natural gas development in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale has been economically beneficial, but maybe not as much as some studies have suggested, according to research by Pennsylvania State University.

A rush for liquids-rich natural gas and tight oil embedded in dense rock formations, using shale drilling methods imported from the United States, is bailing the Alberta government out of sinking deeply into the red.

Southern said based on weather forecasts and projected system demand, five delivery groups will become subject to an OFO Type Level 1 Tuesday until further notice. Penalties of $10/Dth will apply to shippers whose allocated deliveries in those groups exceed 105% of their daily entitlement, Southern said. See the bulletin board for details.

The share of electricity generated by coal during the first three months of this year was the lowest level for a first quarter in more than 30 years, with natural gas and other energy sources picking up market share, according to a report issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday.

With the boom in shale gas production, an oversupply of natural gas is likely to outstrip demand for the fuel and keep prices under the $5 level, Colorado-based Bentek CEO Porter Bennett told the gas committee Monday at the summer meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Los Angeles.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly won’t tackle a tax or fee on Marcellus Shale development during budget talks this summer, but will most likely return to the topic in the fall.

The number of parties unhappy with the low level of industry representation on President Obama’s new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) advisory panel continues to grow as answers are sought and questions surrounding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) motives arise.