NYMEX

Shale production will accelerate growth in demand for natural gas, and eventually revive drilling, by stabilizing supplies and prices for decades to come, Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has been told (see Shale Daily, Oct. 22).

The well efficiencies touted by exploration and production (E&P) companies in some of the star unconventional basins in North America could give the lesser-known names a chance to shine in the coming year, the COO of National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) said Friday.

On average weekly prices regionally were all over the map, but the national average came in at $3.74, unchanged from a week ago. South Texas saw the week’s biggest losses, dropping a stout 12 cents to $3.61, and the Northeast reveled in the week’s greatest gains, adding 26 cents to $3.66. Of individual market points, Transco Leidy enjoyed the greatest gain, adding $1.13 to $2.84, and two Texas Eastern points suffered the week’s greatest losses, dropping 13 cents at both Texas Eastern S TX ($3.59) and Texas Eastern W LA ($3.60).

Midstream companies are planning to spend about $40 billion, mostly over the next three to five years, on infrastructure projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to serve the Marcellus and Utica shales, according to a comprehensive analysis by Marcellus Drilling News (MDN).

Bluegrass Pipeline LLC, which would carry natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Marcellus and Utica shales to petrochemical and export facilities on the Gulf Coast, is launching a binding open season Tuesday (Oct. 29) and running through Dec. 16.

Encana Corp. recorded its second consecutive profitable period in the third quarter, and the move to oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) also trended higher, with volumes up 92% year/year, the Calgary operator said Wednesday.

Utilities in Florida have received approval from the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to bill customers surcharges to cover the cost of replacing aging cast iron and bare steel natural gas distribution pipelines.

The Lower 48 land rig market has “digested” the transition to oil-directed drilling, but there’s still an oversupplied pressure pumping market, brought about in part by efficiency gains, Nabors Industries Ltd. CEO Tony Petrello said Wednesday.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) conditional approvals of permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries may not pass muster in the financial and legal sectors, an industry executive told an audience of energy attorneys Wednesday.