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Any U.S. oil and gas wildcatter looking for a way to get on the Forbes annual Billionaires list might take a hint from some of the interests among those who made this year’s list, published Monday. They like oil and they like natural gas, and many of them especially like shale.

Around the middle of the year, SM Energy Co. management will have a clearer picture of how to allocate spending among a number of opportunities as it targets annual production growth of 15-20% over the next three years, executives said during a conference call Wednesday.

Around the middle of the year, SM Energy Co. management will have a clearer picture of how it will allocate its spending among a number of opportunities as it targets annual production growth of 15-20% over the next three years, executives said during a conference call Wednesday.

Higher natural gas and oil resource estimates should continue through 2013 for several onshore unconventional areas, especially in “pockets of the Permian Basin,” the Niobrara formation, as well as the Eagle Ford and “super-rich” Marcellus and Utica shales, according to Credit Suisse.

Gulfport Energy Corp. reportedly has the best producing well to date in the Utica Shale, according to initial production (IP) data released by the Oklahoma City-based operator.

The senior executives of Halcon Resources Corp. have a fatter checkbook than when they started Eagle Ford Shale pioneer Petrohawk Energy Corp. not so very long ago. Having sold that successful natural gas-focused venture, with Halcon they are targeting unconventional oil plays with a similar strategy and expecting similar success.

ConocoPhillips has begun initial development on the “potentially impactful” Mancos Shale in the San Juan Basin, which has the potential to be a producer “for years and years,” CEO Ryan Lance said Wednesday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the City of Salem, OH, have agreed to sign a three-year nondevelopmental lease, with an option for an additional three years, for 381 combined acres of land owned by the city. Chesapeake agreed to pay a signing bonus of $3,500/acre, plus 20% royalties on gross revenue on any production.

Development of oil and natural gas in the Eagle Ford Shale contributed $25 billion in total economic output to the South Texas region last year, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Community and Business Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development.