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Looking to support local oil and natural gas development operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, Valerus and Brilex Industries have established a partnership to manufacture oil and gas production equipment in Youngstown, OH, for building surface facilities operating in the shales.

More than a week after an exploding natural gas pipeline ripped through a residential neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, natural gas remained a headline-grabber, involving speculation about city sewer work and oil liquids in the pipeline somehow contributing to the explosion and fire, not to mention various politicians proposing new safety measures. With the heightened attention, routine gas utility distribution pipeline breaks and reports of gas odors were being elevated to the status of potential major news events.

Estimates for the ultimate price tag of an ISO New England (ISO-NE) locational installed capacity (LICAP) proposal — which some have put in the neighborhood of $13 billion to $15 billion — became a central bone of contention between representatives from the New England grid operator and certain parties opposed to the LICAP plan at FERC-sponsored oral arguments last Tuesday.

While hot weather and hurricane-related shut-ins had the energy industry looking for a small natural gas injection in the neighborhood of 52 Bcf, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that 59 Bcf was actually put into underground stocks for the week ended July 15.

Investors in oil and natural gas companies shouldn’t be surprised if asset writedowns for 2001 are in the $10 billion neighborhood, according to the John S. Herold, Inc. consulting firm, which already has tracked more than $2 billion in announced asset writedowns and impairments this year.

Investors in oil and natural gas companies shouldn’t be surprised if asset writedowns for 2001 are in the $10 billion neighborhood, according to the John S. Herold, Inc. consulting firm, which already has tracked more than $2 billion in announced asset writedowns and impairments this year.

Bombing Iraq seemed as reasonable an explanation as any for whymost cash markets were rising in the neighborhood of a dimeWednesday. Weather was getting a little colder but still relativelymild for this time of year, so it’s not like there’s any big surgein gas demand, a marketer said. The AGA storage report of 49 Bcf inwithdrawals last week, which came too late to affect Wednesday’strading, was approximately in the middle of most expectations andthus neither bearish nor bullish.