Likely

While natural gas prices continue to languish, it’s likely that most producers care less than they did a year ago, thanks to the migration/stampede to liquids-rich production. The shift to liquids is expected by Barclays Capital analysts to continue, with a continuing effect on producer revenues.

Although it is not likely to subside in the months ahead, concern among state officials regarding proposed federal rules on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is creating a lot of posturing from both political and legal standpoints. North Dakota is in the middle of the messy states’ rights public debate.

For nearly two straight years U.S. natural gas output has climbed almost continuously — and 2012 could see even stronger growth, according to the energy team at Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Natural gas production is continuing to take a back seat to crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Eagle Ford Shale at Houston-based EOG Resources Inc.

It likely will last only a few days before starting to diminish again, but heating load is building from the Midwest through a wide snowy swath of the Rockies, and the South and Northeast can expect to feel a similar chill as the weekend approaches. The result was a second day of firming cash quotes at nearly all points.

A sluggish economy and warmer weather, coupled with an increase in production, will likely keep natural gas prices flat for the 2011-2012 winter season, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said.

A handful of speakers showed up Wednesday at a Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing to comment on a rule for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid disclosure that the RRC is working to enact by the end of the year. Nearly everyone expressed support for the proposed rule and the commissioners’ work.

A sluggish economy and warmer weather, coupled with an increase in production, will likely keep natural gas prices flat for the 2011-2012 winter season, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said Tuesday.

The federal government should leave shale regulation to the states, but companies should be ready for changes to the tax code that will likely impact their industry, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers told a Philadelphia audience last Wednesday.