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The shale natural gas market in North America is helping to revamp the U.S. chemicals industry and may benefit a variety of other manufacturing sectors through lower costs for raw materials and energy, according to a report issued on Tuesday by PwC US.

Rex Energy Corp., which expanded its operations in Ohio’s Utica Shale earlier this year, said Wednesday it was pleased with the initial production results from its first Ohio Utica Shale well.

San Diego, CA-based Osage Exploration and Development Inc. reported Monday that it has spudded its fourth horizontal oil well in the Mississippian Lime formation and the rock quality appears promising. The well — the McPhail #2-18H in section 18-18N-3W of Logan County, OK –. is in the 30,000-plus acre Nemaha Ridge project, which is owned by Osage in conjunction with its partners, project operator Slawson Exploration Co. and U.S. Energy Development Corp.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday said it will invest $5.6 million in more than a dozen research projects to increase understanding of the potential of methane hydrates as an energy source.

The Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales have exactly what the U.S. gas market doesn’t need right now: more gas on the way, according to natural gas analysts at Barclays Capital. They titled their latest note — an analysis of the effects of upcoming pipeline debottlenecking in the two plays — “Unleashing a Caged Monster.”

A lawsuit filed by Range Resources Corp. against a Texas couple that accused the company of contaminating its drinking water may proceed, said the Texas Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, which found that the lawsuit does not run afoul of a state law against litigation intended to stifle public protest.

A home or office-based fueling device for natural gas vehicles (NGV) that would dramatically speed up the fueling time and lower the cost is being pursued jointly by a unit of General Electric Corp. (GE), Chart Industries and researchers at the University of Missouri.

Buoyed by a 0.41 Bcf/d (1.9%) increase in Texas, natural gas production in the Lower 48 states reached 72.48 Bcf/d in April, a 0.8% increase compared with 71.92 Bcf/d in March and up a full 3.22 Bcf/d compared with April 2011, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report.

Buoyed by a 0.41 Bcf/d (1.9%) increase in Texas, natural gas production in the Lower 48 states reached 72.48 Bcf/d in April, a 0.8% increase compared with 71.92 Bcf/d in March and up a full 3.22 Bcf/d compared with April 2011, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production report.