Predicted

Baker Hughes Inc.’s North American activity is predicted to be steady this year compared with 2012, but customers still remain cautious about what’s ahead, CEO Martin Craighead said Wednesday. Canadian projects also are posing “near-term risks,” he said.

An environmental group focused on recreation says industrial-scale development of oil shale is harmful to rivers and could require billions gallons of water annually, significantly more than what would be needed for hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

PG&E Corp. CEO Anthony Earley predicted last week that the San Francisco-based utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will resolve pending regulatory and enforcement issues related to the fatal San Bruno, CA, natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion two years ago.

In reporting a sharp uptick in quarter-over-quarter earnings Monday, PG&E Corp. CEO Anthony Earley predicted that its San Francisco-based utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., will resolve pending regulatory and enforcement issues related to the fatal San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion two years ago.

With a 92-plant, 20-state fleet of predominantly natural gas-fired electric generation plants, Calpine Corp. CEO Jack Fusco on Tuesday predicted opportunities for his company on continuing low gas prices and an increasing number of coal-fired plants being retired.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has spent the last decade creating one of the largest natural gas drilling machines in the United States, quickly is becoming an onshore liquids dynamo, CEO Aubrey McClendon told financial analysts Tuesday.

If you work in one of the 23 counties comprising the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas, today — or any day, for that matter — would be a good day to ask your boss for a raise.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. Wednesday confirmed that a recently drilled well in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) of Louisiana and Mississippi had an initial flow rate exceeding 1,000 boe/d.

Independent power giant NRG Energy Inc. CEO David Crane predicted Wednesday that the entire energy sector would be impacted by continuing low natural gas prices this year. Crane was a keynote speaker at the Jefferies 2012 Global Clean Technology Conference in New York City.