Produced

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. closed out 2011 averaging 600 MMcf/d from the Marcellus Shale, including one day where the Houston company produced a record 606 MMcf.

Natural gas produced from Marcellus Shale wells owned by Shell Upstream America and Ultra Petroleum Corp. has begun flowing through a UGI Central Penn Gas Inc. supply pipeline that feeds some 15,000 customers in Tioga, Bradford and Potter counties in Pennsylvania, according to the UGI Utilities Inc. subsidiary.

Three conservation and environmental groups are seeking to stall the construction of Inergy subsidiary Central New York Oil and Gas Co.’s (CNYOG) MARC I Hub project in northeast Pennsylvania until the company corrects “serious flaws” in its invasive species management plan.

A study by the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University counters recent claims by TransCanada Corp.’s CEO Russ Girling that the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from the Alberta-U.S. international border to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region could create as many as 20,000 new jobs.

Supermajor ExxonMobil Corp., which controls a huge portfolio of unconventional oil, gas and liquids projects across North America, on Thursday disclosed that it has increased its leasehold in the Ohio portion of the promising Utica Shale.

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP has agreed to acquire Tristate Sabine LLC from affiliates of Energy Spectrum Capital, Zwolle Pipeline LLC and Tristate management for $65 million in cash at closing plus a deferred payment of $8 million one year later. The entities to be acquired own and operate 52 miles of gas gathering pipelines in Sabine Parish, LA, known as the Tristate System, which serves Haynesville and Bossier shale production from the Toledo Bend South field area for delivery to Gulf South Pipeline and Tennessee Gas Pipeline. Contracts dedicate about 20,000 acres under long-term, fixed-fee arrangements, and capacity is being expanded to 100 MMcf/d for gathering and 80 MMcf/d for treating. The acquisition is expected to close on Nov. 1 and will be financed with borrowings under Crestwood’s credit facility.

Although a shale-produced natural gas surplus remains, it is at a lower level than many expected and thus a couple of drivers could send prices back into a period of volatility, according to Jim Duncan, chief analyst and commodity market strategist for ConocoPhillips in Houston.

Looking ahead over the next decade the natural gas industry can be characterized as having excess supplies of the commodity and infrastructure that will be searching frantically for added demand, an industry strategist told the LDC Gas Forum: Rockies & West meeting in Los Angeles Tuesday.

Although a shale-produced natural gas surplus remains, it is at a lower level than many expected and thus a couple of drivers could send prices back into a period of volatility, according to Jim Duncan, chief analyst and commodity market strategist for ConocoPhillips in Houston.