Levels

Chesapeake Energy Corp. can see some daylight following the deluge of U.S. natural gas, but it won’t be until the end of the year that the producer is able to report a decline in domestic output, CEO Aubrey McClendon said Friday.

During the third quarter, Southwestern Energy Co. grew natural gas and oil production by 12% from a year ago. Costs associated with its Fayetteville Shale activities declined while well results there improved. Marcellus Shale production more than doubled from a year ago, and the company continues to find its way in the emerging Brown Dense play.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. grew its natural gas production by 31% and its liquids production 61% during the third quarter compared to year-ago levels, the company said. It credited much of the growth to the Marcellus Shale, where infrastructure constraints that delayed some wells during the second quarter have been overcome. Production during the quarter was 66.5 Bcfe: 62.7 Bcf of natural gas and 629,000 bbl of liquids.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. grew its natural gas production by 31% and its liquids production 61% during the third quarter compared to year-ago levels, the company said. It credited much of the growth to the Marcellus Shale, where infrastructure constraints that delayed some wells during the second quarter have been overcome.

With natural gas stocks at levels below the seasonal norm after a summer of market rebalancing, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) Monday lifted their 2013 average gas price forecast by 25 cents to $3.75/MMBtu.

Total U.S. marketed natural gas production remains at historically high levels but flattened during the first seven months of 2012, primarily in response to lower gas prices, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last week.

Unconventional oil and gas drilling within the 13 plays tracked by NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count dropped by a combined 13 rigs, or 1%, from the previous week to 869 rigs for the week ending Sept. 28. While some of the plays reporting increases or declines in activity were to be expected, others came as a bit of a surprise.

In the current commodity price environment, the best thing about a natural gas rig might be that it can stop drilling for gas, move somewhere else and start drilling for oil.

Total U.S. marketed natural gas production remains at historically high levels but flattened during the first seven months of 2012, primarily in response to lower gas prices, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Monday.