Prompted

Maryland’s Department of Environment (MDE) and Department of Natural Resources have released a draft report describing best practices for drilling and production that should be required if horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells is permitted in the state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale, which is confined to its two westernmost counties.

The physical natural gas market added an average of 4 cents Monday for Tuesday delivery, led by surging prices at Northeast points prompted by warm temperatures and big jumps in next day power. Eastern points also tallied double digit gains, far outdistancing trading centers in the Midwest and Gulf as well as those in California and the Rockies. At the close of futures trading July had fallen 3.2 cents to $3.739 and August was off 3.3 cents to $3.760. August crude oil recovered $1.49 to $95.18/bbl.

A wildfire along the Western Slope in Colorado south of Rangely in the Piceance Basin prompted Denver-based Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to close 500 conventional natural gas wells in Rio Blanco County and evacuate an eight-worker plant. The shutdown was expected to continue at least through Friday, a Colorado-based Encana spokesperson told NGI.

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.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant on Tuesday signed into law several energy bills that were passed by state lawmakers this spring, including one piece of legislation that should encourage more development in the emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), as well as other unconventional oil and natural gas formations.

Low natural gas prices and a “responsive regulatory environment” have prompted Australia’s Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) to devote $850 million toward the construction of a world scale ammonia manufacturing plant on a brownfield site in Waggaman, LA, the company said Wednesday.

High costs have prompted Woodside Petroleum Ltd. to scrap plans for the proposed onshore Browse LNG Development at James Price Point (JPP) in Western Australia, but the company is leaving the door open to a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) development, among other options, to commercialize Browse Basin gas reserves.

Physical natural gas prices continued their volatile ways Wednesday with eastern points continuing higher prompted by pipeline outages and below normal temperatures, while locations west of the Eastern Seaboard were declining. Overall, the national average gain was 95 cents, but taking out volatile eastern points revealed an overall average loss of 8 cents. At the close of trading February futures were 0.4 cent lower at $3.554 and March was down 0.5 cent at $3.553. March crude oil slipped $1.45 to $95.23/bbl.

Cold temperatures in the Northeast have prompted constraints on Spectra Energy’s Algonquin Gas Transmission and Maritimes & Northeast (M&N) Pipeline, according to customer notices on the pipelines’ bulletin boards.