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The competition between rail and pipelines for moving Bakken sweet light crude oil in North Dakota will continue to be brisk, driven by WTI and Brent price spreads and by the ultimate added costs from stepped-up regulation of crude-by-rail transportation, according to an analysis by the University of Texas Center for Energy Economics (CEE) in Austin.

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Monday said it remains to be seen how large a contributor North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be to the global gas market. However, Maria van der Hoeven said North American volumes won’t do much to move the supply needle in Europe.

September natural gas is expected to open 6 cents higher Monday morning at $3.90 as near-term weather forecasts turn more supportive and traders discount the potential load destruction of Tropical Storm Cristobal. Overnight oil market rose.

North Carolina regulators have scheduled a final series of public hearings to discuss a rulemaking on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), less than one year before a moratorium on the practice is to be officially lifted.

As industry players continue to expand their ability to move North Dakota’s Bakken crude oil via rail, state officials on Monday were making final plans for a public hearing and eventual rulemaking regarding crude-by-rail shipments.

As the industry moves along its steep learning curve dealing with the shale revolution, it is becoming clearer there is no real comparison between California’s Monterey Shale and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. They are night-and-day opposites, according to several industry speakers at a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) conference Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Apache Corp. is selling the two liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects in which it has stakes and plans to monetize its international portfolio, excluding parts of Canada, CEO G. Steven Farris said Thursday.

The North American land drilling market will move toward a general contractor model for oilfield services, a big reason that Schlumberger Ltd. has begun allying with other drilling services, CEO Paal Kibsgaard said Friday.

For Schlumberger Ltd., it’s no longer about what it can do in the oilfield, it’s what it wants to do, a feat increasingly accomplished through high-tech software.