Prolific

Prolific oil production from U.S. shales is weighing on the need for imports, OPEC acknowledged in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), and analysts at Barclays predicted that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will see its influence over market balances decline over the next few years.

Natural gas production in the Lower 48 and Other States categories, which include some of the nation’s most prolific shale plays, was up in February compared with January and with February 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report.

Resolute Energy Corp. said Friday it plans to run with the Wolfcamp pack this year and increase net production by more than 50% over the 2012 level, reflecting, in part, recent acquisitions in Midland and Ector counties, TX.

Chevron Corp. has conducted a successful production test on the St. Malo PS003 well in the prolific Lower Tertiary Trend in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), with low rates, though limited by testing equipment constraints, exceeding 13,000 b/d of oil, the operator said Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., the most prolific driller and the second largest natural gas producer in the United States, wrote down $2 billion in natural gas reserves in 3Q2012, which wiped out the equivalent of 4.9 Tcf of its reserves and triggered the company’s biggest net loss in three years.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., the most prolific driller and the second largest natural gas producer in the United States, wrote down $2 billion in natural gas reserves in 3Q2012, which wiped out the equivalent of 4.9 Tcf of its reserves and triggered the company’s biggest net loss in three years.

First quarter performance from EOG Resources Inc.’s “big four” oil and liquids plays was substantial enough to raise this year’s total company liquids production growth target to 33% from 30% and increase the overall production growth target to 7% from 5.5%.

Commissioners in Bradford County, PA — one of Pennsylvania’s most prolific counties for unconventional natural gas drilling — joined nearly all of their contemporaries in the Marcellus Shale and voted unanimously in favor of implementing the state’s impact fee on unconventional gas drilling on Thursday.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has revised downward by 21% its projection for natural gas prices this year, citing abundant storage levels and prolific production.