People

Following the trend of the last few years, people in the northern and eastern United States might need to don their winter jackets a little earlier than normal if Weather Services International’s (WSI) fall forecast comes to fruition. The Andover, MA-based weather forecaster also said it expects six more named storms to form in the Atlantic Ocean this year.

Following the trend of the last few years, people in the northern and eastern United States might need to don their winter jackets a little earlier than normal if Weather Services International’s (WSI) fall forecast comes to fruition.

When they return from summer recess on Monday (Sept. 19), Pennsylvania lawmakers will take up a tax or fee on natural gas developers, pipeline safety measures and a model ordinance for local governments, but they probably won’t discuss forced pooling, legislative leaders told an audience in Philadelphia last week.

An estimated 224,200 people were employed by Texas’ oil and gas industry in June, a nearly 15% increase compared with June 2010, according to the most recent Texas Petro Index (TPI). “Post-recession job growth in Texas has been among the strongest in the nation, and the oil and gas industry in Texas deserves most of the credit for that,” said petroleum economist Karr Ingham, who designed the TPI. June’s employment figure marks the first time more Texans have been working in the industry than in October 2008, the peak of the industry’s last boom, Ingham said. Directly or indirectly, the industry accounted for 66% of total job growth in Texas during the 12-month period, Ingham said. The TPI, which measures a group of upstream economic indicators, rose in June to 243.5 from a low in December 2009 of 186.6. It was the eighteenth straight month to show an increase. The TPI, which peaked at 286 in September and October 2008, was 208 in June 2010 (see NGI, Aug. 2, 2010). According to latest TPI, Texas’ estimated gas output in June was 576.5 Bcf, which was down about 6.1% from a year ago. But the value of Texas-produced gas was $2.46 billion, about 0.2% more than in June 2010.

An estimated 224,200 people were employed by Texas’ oil and gas industry in June, a nearly 15% increase compared with June 2010, according to the most recent Texas Petro Index (TPI).

Shale gas is already impacting the Northwest; the question is whether it can realize its full potential, said a regional gas industry trade group head.

Seeds from the North American shale gas revolution have been carried around the globe and planted, and it’s only a matter of time before many countries have their own where natural gas is concerned, longtime energy industry executive Chuck Watson told a Houston audience Thursday.

Marcellus Shale gas operators in Pennsylvania are poised to comply with last month’s request by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to stop delivering wastewater to 15 municipal wastewater treatment facilities by Thursday (May 19).

Now that the energy industry is done marveling at the shale gas revolution and is believing in abundant gas supplies for years to come, a similar North American supply renaissance is in the making in crude oil, Bentek Energy LLC’s Jim Simpson told attendees at GasMart 2011 in Chicago Wednesday.