Opportunities

The historic shift of global energy markets toward increased use of natural gas will create opportunities for economic growth and environmental progress, ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex W. Tillerson said Tuesday at the 25th World Gas Conference in Malaysia. Separately, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser told delegates that abundant unconventional gas reserves were quickly rebuilding the U.S. economy.

Citizens for Property Rights (CPR), a five-member group that opposes what members believe are too-strict restrictions on gas drilling imposed by the city of Southlake, TX, failed to get enough signatures on a petition to relax some of the rules. However, CRP Chairman Stephen Oren said the group will try again.

A new investor presentation posted early Tuesday by Chesapeake Energy Corp. included a full-page statement by the company with the headline, “It’s been a tough five weeks, but better days ahead.” By Tuesday afternoon, the statement, originally the second page of the 32-page presentation, had been deleted with no explanation by the company.

It’s early days in Chevron Corp.’s shale natural gas and oil program, but it is “an area of significant long-term growth” with opportunities in the United States, Canada, Argentina, China and Europe — in liquids and dry gas — an executive said during the company’s analyst day last week.

It’s early days in Chevron Corp.’s shale natural gas and oil program, but it is “an area of significant long-term growth” with opportunities in the United States, Canada, Argentina, China and Europe — in liquids and dry gas — an executive said during the company’s analyst day Tuesday.

The upstream industry could see its drilling inventory grow if horizontal drilling opportunities being explored by several companies pan out, according to analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Baker Hughes Inc. is planning to open a regional headquarters in Massillon, OH, in 2013 to take advantage of the business opportunities generated by the growing shale gas resources in the Utica and Marcellus formations.

Shares of debt-burdened Quicksilver Resources Inc. fell Monday after the company reported lower profits and said production would be flat this year. Meanwhile, efforts on two joint venture deals continue, as the company targets more liquids-rich production, executives told financial analysts.

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. senior executives on Thursday reiterated that they intend to exploit their home field advantage in all lines of their business by digging deeply into the Bakken Shale play’s continuing robust growth. And they talked bullishly about prospects this year despite reporting earnings that were down slightly quarter over quarter and year over year in 2011.