NYMEX

Physical natural gas for Wednesday delivery continued to advance in trading Tuesday, gaining approximately 12 cents on average nationally, with New England points the biggest winners, posting gains upwards of a dollar on some lightly traded pipes.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. CEO Mike Watford has assumed the chairmanship of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), with Mike Miller, president and founder of Merlin Oil & Gas Inc. as vice chair. Watford previously was CEO of Nuevo Energy Co. and is on the boards of Valerus and America’s Natural Gas Alliance. Watford also is an appointed member of the National Petroleum Council, a committee that advises the Secretary of Energy. Miller serves on the board of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, the American Association of Petroleum Landmen legislative update committee and previously served as president of the Lafayette, LA, Association of Petroleum Landmen. Outgoing Chair Virginia “Gigi” Lazenby, who began serving in 2011, is to remain on the IPAA board of directors.

After 70 years as a Mexican government-owned monopoly, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) may be ready to accept allowing energy investors in, Raymond James & Associates Inc. analysts said in a report.

Tesoro Corp.’s two refineries handling Bakken crude in North Dakota and Washington state were not affected by the company’s controversial pipeline spill late in September in a wheat field northeast of Tioga, ND, Tesoro CEO Greg Goff said last Thursday during a quarterly earnings conference call.

The dawn of the “Golden Era of Gas,” touted two years ago by the International Energy Agency (IEA), has become “more rapid and more pronounced,” but it won’t necessarily create an oil era, according to the 2013 World Energy Outlook (WEO).

Executives at Continental Resources Inc. said the third quarter of 2013 was a “milestone” for the company, with record total net production and the first of four density tests completed in the Middle Bakken/Three Forks formation.

Relatively low natural gas prices and regional environmental initiatives are leading natural gas-fired generators to provide a greater portion of the electricity in the northeastern United States, and the region’s two regional transmission organizations — the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO New England) and the New York Independent System Operator — have seen a dramatic shift away from petroleum- and coal-fired generation since 2001, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Onshore powerhouse EOG Resources Inc. expects to ramp up 2014 activity and capital spending in the Eagle Ford and Bakken shales, assuming oil and natural gas prices are similar to current New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) prices, outgoing Executive Chairman Mark Papa said last week.

Retiring EOG Resources Inc. Executive Chairman Mark Papa, who for years has offered colorful, spot-on macro forecasts on North American natural gas and oil markets, said last week during his final conversation with analysts that gas prices likely will remain depressed until 2018. There’s no optimism for ethane prices either.