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American Honda Motor Co., which bills itself as the only automaker selling natural gas-powered passenger cars in the United States, wants to double its sales of its compressed natural gas (CNG) Civicmodel, which is built in Indiana. To boost sales it is going to establish CNG fueling stations in some of its dealerships, particularly in California. The automaker said it is negotiating with California regulators about developing more fueling stations in dealerships in a state that represents the nation’s biggest CNG vehicle market. The company said it is usually not Honda’s role to create infrastructure, but in this case a “chicken and egg” situation exists, “and we’re going to have to nurse the egg along.”

Drillers in northeastern Pennsylvania — the dry gas area of the Marcellus Shale — in the months ahead will stomp on the brakes with both feet and jam the dry gas freight train into reverse, according to an analysis by Bentek Energy LLC. Even if they do, a bulging gas surplus will fester behind pipeline capacity constraints for years to come, the firm said.

BP plc has accumulated close to 450,000 net acres in the the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, executives said Tuesday.

Exploration and field development in the largest continuous shale oil play in the Lower 48 states, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana, will be guided by new geo-models developed with funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

The Marcellus Shale is the “best gas play” in the United States and at current price levels, “the only basin where dry gas should be drilled,” analysts with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) advised in a new report.

The Marcellus Shale is the “best gas play” in the United States and at current price levels, “the only basin where dry gas should be drilled,” analysts with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) advised in a new report.

With two new joint ventures in hand, Consol Energy Inc. is gearing up for a big year in Appalachian shale.

Only a day after issuing them, Tennessee lifted two meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs. The pipeline also said it continues investigation of a November rupture near Main Line Valve (MLV) 205-4 in Morgan County, OH, about four miles southeast of the city of Glouster (see Daily GPI, Nov. 21, 2011). Currently line 4 is isolated and Tennessee is maintaining a reduced pressure from Station 200 in Greenup, KY, to Station 219 in Mercer, PA. The Rockies Express (REX) interconnect flows into Line 4 between MLVs 208 and 209. To further evaluate the section between the valves, Tennessee was required to reduce the pressure there. Thus it was not accepting any nomination increases at the REX meter Tuesday and effective Wednesday until further notice will not accept any nominations at all from the REX meter.

Thursday’s price driver was the release of government inventory figures that came in only slightly bearish but were sufficient to send February futures nearly a dime lower.