Ranging

North American natural gas giant Encana Corp. saw its gas production drop 12% from a year ago, as it turned off the spigot in its wide ranging gas-rich plays. Liquids output, however, is roaring and expected to double by the end of the year.

North American natural gas giant Encana Corp. saw its gas production drop 12% from a year ago, as well as its profits, as it turned off the spigot in its wide ranging gas-rich plays. A one-time hedging loss of $266 million and a nonoperating foreign exchange loss of $101 million reversed profits from a year earlier.

Shares of EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) took a hit Friday after the company announced net losses for the fourth quarter and full-year 2012, and said it could take anywhere from one month to the rest of the year to sell most of its acreage in the eastern Ohio portion of the Utica Shale.

After relying on industry voluntary actions regarding drilling setback and water sampling approaches, Colorado regulators are poised to establish new mandatory rules covering exploration and production (E&P) companies.

Physical gas prices overall on average jumped a whopping 37 cents Monday as traders scrambled to deal with multiple challenges ranging from high power prices, to covering short positions, to below normal temperatures forecast for major eastern and Midwest energy markets. The Northeast was especially strong, with a couple of New England points registering gains north of $4.00. Futures traders were looking at more distant weather events and sold early and sold often. At the close December had fallen 17.1 cents to $3.730 and January was down 16.6 cents to $3.868. January crude oil fell 54 cents to $87.74/bbl.

Houston explorer Marathon Oil Corp. is reducing its rig count in the Eagle Ford Shale because of drilling efficiencies and dropped rigs in the Anadarko Woodford and Bakken plays in response to a “continued decline in natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas prices,” the company said Wednesday.

Physical natural gas prices nationwide surged Tuesday as a combination of factors ranging from weather conditions, to high power prices, to attractive price differentials with the screen all brought buyers to their feet. Gains were especially pronounced in the Northeast as traders noted lingering coolness and a strong basis. At the close of futures trading May had gained 3.5 cents to $2.187 and June had added 2.8 cents to $2.318. May crude oil sank $1.22 to $104.01/bbl.

Both cash and futures advanced Monday as cash traders reacted to a variety of factors ranging from somewhat cooler weather to nuclear outages. Futures advanced primarily on short-covering and revised weather forecasts, but traders are skeptical the gains will last. At the close March had gained 5.1 cents to $2.550 and April had risen 6.1 cents to $2.738. March crude oil fell 93 cents to $96.91/bbl.

Water reclamation services firm STW Resources Holding Corp. is planning pilot projects in the Permian Basin of West Texas to process produced oilfield water. The Midland, TX-based firm said its mobile processing unit will handle up to 500 barrels of water per day for up to 10 days per site. Some of the processed water could be used for hydraulic fracturing (fracking).