Producing

Mississippi Power’s experimental clean coal power project in Kemper County, MS, reached “the most significant milestone at the plant to date” when it began producing syngas from locally mined lignite, the company said Friday.

The relentless build in natural gas storage continued Thursday with the release of government figures showing a thinner build than traders were expecting. Natural gas futures rose but quickly subsided following the release.

Natural gas futures rose, then fell, following the release of government inventory figures showing an increase in working gas storage that was curiously less than what traders were expecting.

After taking a more than $2 billion charge against its Canadian and U.S. liquids-rich properties in the second quarter, Royal Dutch Shell plc has decided that its Eagle Fore Shale assets would be better off in the hands of someone else.

The pioneering shale gas and oil developers have to be unshackled by “prison guards of the past” to allow the United States to achieve energy independence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on the closing day of the Shale Insight conference in Philadelphia.

Natural gas prices for physical delivery Friday on average were unchanged in Thursday’s trading. Factor out the extreme low prices at just a couple of Marcellus points burdened by a lack of infrastructure and the physical market on average gained a couple of pennies.

The head of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) said the organization is not opposed to Utica Shale development and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but wants to see the industry, landowners and other stakeholders come to an agreement over developing eastern Ohio’s portion of the play.

The Kentucky Oil and Gas Association’s (KOGA) first comprehensive research of the economic impact of the oil and gas industry found that the state had 14,632 producing natural gas wells in 2011 and produced more than 3 million bbl of oil in 2012, but the number of horizontal well permits issued has declined each year since 2009.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. raised second quarter oil production guidance to 10,800-11,200 b/d from 9,600-10,000 b/d, increased its 2013 crude oil production growth target to 40% from 28% and raised its total 2013 production growth target to 10% from 6%, based largely on results in the Eagle Ford Shale.