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Given current commodity prices, natural gas wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale — wet or dry — compete favorably with marginal Bakken Shale oil wells, but that’s the only gas play in the U.S. onshore that today can compete with Bakken oil well economics, according to an analysis by Barclays Capital.

Onshore drilling activity in the United States and Canada has begun to pick up, with excess pressure pumping capacity “being absorbed ever so slowly,” the top financial officer for Baker Hughes Inc. said this week.

The overall cash market Wednesday on average slipped just over a penny, where large losses at Northeast locations were not quite offset by gains in the Midwest, mostly steady eastern quotes, and steady to slightly lower Texas next-day prices. At the close of futures trading November had managed a 3.3 cent advance to $3.470 and December had added 5.3 cents to $3.820. November crude oil gained 3 cents to $92.12/bbl.

Private hedge fund operator Third Point LLC, which is run by activist investor Daniel Loeb, listed Chesapeake Energy Corp. as one of the fund’s largest new holdings in a June exposure report to investors, according to several market followers.

The prospects for exporting U.S. natural gas are intertwined with a whole set of variables that are becoming increasingly tough to predict, according to the lead gas and electricity prognosticator at the California Energy Commission (CEC).

How low can you go? Both government and private energy analysts in the business of making natural gas price forecasts haven’t quite determined how low natural gas prices will go in 2012 — but the consensus doesn’t indicate a bullish run.

With weather, futures, the weekend factor and lack of tropical threat appearing mostly bearish, it wasn’t quite clear how a substantive portion of the cash market managed to achieve small rebounds Friday. But flat to moderately higher numbers showed up at a majority of points, primarily in the Midcontinent/Midwest, Gulf Coast and Rockies.

State regulators from eight states — Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Nebraska, Arkansas, Michigan, Colorado and Pennsylvania — told the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee (SEAB) that its recommendations on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) should address best practices.

While the opportunities associated with shale gas are “quite great,” an executive with a leading global investment firm Thursday cautioned industry about the “current euphoria around shale,” saying it could be “wrong-minded” if the challenges are not considered.