Producing

BP plc was the only one of the top five U.S. producers of natural gas that also showed up among the top five gas marketers in 2010, according to an analysis by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) of federal filings that showed a 6% gain in trading in 2010 over 2009.

Extensive rain and flooding have hampered MDU Resources Group Inc.’s operations and delayed growth activity in key producing states in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Bakken Shale, to such an extent that the company is lowering its 2011 natural gas and oil production forecasts.

The Pacific Northwest hydrolectric season has stretched into an eight-month-long period, producing a similarly long period in which natural gas-fired generation plants remain mostly idle, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). For gas-fired plant operators the short-term summer prospects look bleak, according to EIA. While it is not unusual to see gas generation drop dramatically in the spring, EIA’s data reported a dramatic gas drop in the region since mid-January, with little change envisioned before September. “Natural gas use at [the region’s] plants dropped almost to zero during the third week of May,” EIA said. “This coincides with the curtailment of wind generators discussed in previous [EIA reports]. Gas use for power generation in 2011 is down 68%, or about 300 MMcf/d, compared to the first five months of 2010 [Jan. 1-May 25].”

The shift to shales — and the rise in oil prices — has lifted the domestic rig count close to 20-year highs and shifted the landscape, helped several states join Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in the chase for natural gas and oil production, according to Headwaters Economics.

Bulging natural gas liquids (NGL) supplies in the Midcontinent have prompted a plan to carry the bounty to more lucrative Gulf of Mexico region markets.

The Marcellus Shale industry is driving job growth in Pennsylvania, according to new government figures.

Denver-based Inflection Energy has leased 3,000 additional acres in Broome County, NY, in the midst of the Marcellus Shale, bringing the total under its control in the state to approximately 15,000 acres. The county is located on the border with Pennsylvania, where the privately held exploration and production company holds more than 6,000 acres.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will hold another public hearing over plans by XTO Energy Inc., an ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary, to withdraw up to 250,000 gal/d of surface water from a creek in New York for natural gas wells.

Thanks to the Montney and Horn River shale plays, Western Canada can hold its own in the natural gas renaissance; however, production from these developing plays will not offset declines in the region’s conventional gas production, according to Ziff Energy Group’s Edward Kallio, director of gas consulting.