natural gas data

A U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc is throwing in the towel in the Kansas portion of the Mississippian Lime, selling off 45 producing wells and about 600,000 net lease acres. Last week the operator also pulled the plug on an oil shale research center in Colorado.

Summer is over and the shoulder season, where air conditioners have been turned off and heaters have yet to be turned on, has arrived is the message that was sent by natural gas cash prices for the week ending Sept. 27, as a vast majority of individual pricing points across the country declined by 20-plus cents. NGI’s National Spot Gas Average for the week came in at $3.47, down 20 cents from the previous week.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which includes under its regulatory umbrella much of the state’s natural gas and oil industry, needs to open its doors wider to public scrutiny, said acting DEP Secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo.

Total natural gas used for power generation in the United States was down 14% between January and July 2013 compared with the same seven month period in 2012, due primarily to higher gas prices relative to coal prices this year, according to a report issued last week by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

As natural gas production steadily increases in the Utica Shale and a new joint venture (JV) emerges to handle midstream services, the business model for Dominion East Ohio (DEO), whose operations run through the heart of the shale play, is forecast to change in some areas, but not in others.

AFederal Energy Regulatory Commission(FERC) administrative law judge (ALJ) has approved an uncontested settlement betweenViking Gas Transmissionand its shippers resolving charges that the company over-recovered costs, resulting in unjust and unreasonable rates for shippers. The settlement [RP13-185] was negotiated between FERC staff, Viking and 16 shippers. FERC may approve or reject the decision in full or in part. FERC’s charges were based on Viking’s Form 2 cost and revenue information from 2010, which staff said showed that the pipeline had substantially over-recovered its cost of service. Since 2009, FERC has initiated several investigations into rates (seeNGI,Nov. 23, 2009). The settlement requires Viking to reduce all base tariff rates, effective Nov. 14, 2012, by 2% and to file changes to its gas tariff within 15 days following a final order. The reduced base settlement rates would take effect on Jan. 1, 2014 and remain in effect for at least one year.

More pipeline capacity out of the glutted Marcellus Shale region could be on the way depending upon the success of pipeline open seasons announced last week (see related story).

The first of 16 methane emissions studies focusing on unconventional natural gas production and organized by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been published and says that industry efforts to control emissions at well sites are having a significant impact.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is restructuring in more ways than one, with layoffs expected across the nationwide organization.