Productive

Lower 48 gross natural gas production during April increased 0.8% (0.57 Bcf/d) to 73.24 Bcf/d from a revised March figure of 72.67 Bcf/d, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday. In a separate report, EIA said overall April dry gas production set a record for the month, although it was “a small increase” from April 2012.

In an article Tuesday, the Post looked to the future with a report, “European industry flocks to U.S. to take advantage of cheaper gas,” while the Times complained Monday that the “Jobs Boom Built on Cheap Energy Has Yet to Appear.”

Barbara Mariner-Volpe of EIA’s Office of Energy Statistics is heading up the project to report Marcellus gas and other states separately, Cogan said. One of the options being considered would add individual reports on 14 states to the current five Lower 48 states and the GOM, said Barbara Mariner-Volpe of EIA’s Office of Energy Statistics.

In a public debate on how much use and emphasis there should be on oil/natural gas and particularly hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday called natural gas the best transition for his state eventually to move to more reliance on efficiency and renewable energy programs.

Citing the onslaught of shale gas volumes, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday projected that dry natural gas production will increase significantly throughout 2040, outpacing domestic consumption by 2020 and spurring net exports of natural gas sooner than the agency had expected.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and unconventional drilling pioneer George Mitchell last week offered their unqualified support and a big financial boost for “common sense” hydraulic fracturing (fracking) regulations, just days ahead of expected new guidelines for New York state drillers.

A regional approach to siting drilling infrastructure in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale is needed to help minimize development in core forest and productive agricultural lands and to decrease potential risk to waterways, according to researchers at Pennsylvania State University. A study conducted by the university’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that shale gas development is causing rapid landscape change. “The development of new roads to support drilling could affect forest ecosystem integrity via increased fragmentation,” said Patrick Drohan, assistant professor of pedology. Drohan estimated that slightly more than half of the well pads in Pennsylvania are on agricultural land and most of the rest are on forestland. The study found that drilling is competing with food production for space on the landscape.

Robust output from the nation’s shale plays and relatively mild winter weather continue to force analysts to trim their natural gas price forecasts, with Bentek Energy LLC on Tuesday saying it expects the market to set a new price floor of $1.94/Mcf this September.

Maryland intends to sue Chesapeake Energy Corp. over an April 19 Marcellus Shale well blowout and the release of thousands of gallons of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) fluid into a tributary of the Susquehanna River, according to the state’s attorney general, Douglas F. Gansler.