Pace

State regulators continue to be the primary overseers of shale natural gas development, but because of the speed at which the boom shifted — and continues to shift — the energy marketplace, the dynamic environment has created challenges for the energy industry and all of the stakeholders involved, according to a report by Resources for the Future (RFF).

“We have thousands and thousands of well locations,” he said at the UBS Global Oil and Gas Conference. “We’ll be drilling at this pace for many years to come, assuming the [Nymex] strip pricing that we have today. We do plan to drill close to 400 wells this year and that certainly, of all of our operations, can flex more than any others as we need to respond to gas prices, one way or the other [see Shale Daily, May 24].”

Although condensate production in the Utica Shale is occurring at a slower-than-anticipated pace, Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) said it has completed the conceptual engineering for condensate splitters at its refineries in Kentucky and Ohio, part of a $300 million investment to put the company in position to handle increasing volumes in the future.

North Dakota’s record-setting oil production pace has provided an economic boost that has increased sevenfold since 2004, reaching $30.4 billion in 2011, according to a study released by North Dakota State University (NDSU).

Houston-based Halcon Resources Corp., which became a public company about a year ago, has been building acreage positions in several unconventional oil and gas plays and last year grew proved reserves to 108.8 million boe, an increase of 417% from the end of 2011.

Cash market trading yielded a decline of 2 cents overall Friday, but if the sizable losses on Tennessee and Algonquin are factored out, the physical market scored a 2-cent advance.

The pace of drilling in Pennsylvania has declined by 35% in the first month and a half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, but counties rich in liquids and oil are faring better.

The pace of drilling in Pennsylvania has declined by 35% in the first month and a half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, but counties rich in liquids and oil are faring better.

Oil, the latest growth engine of the U.S. unconventional boom, is spurting up from the ground at an exceptional pace, which is leading many operators to rethink where — and how — they want to deliver their reserves for the best prices.