Rapidly

A coalition of business and labor groups urged Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski Thursday to move ahead rapidly with energy infrastructure projects. Energy Action Northwest plans to sweep through the capital on Friday with its members engaging lawmakers, and it will reinforce its pitch with a full-page advertisement in the Sunday Portland Oregonian.

With a little help from a prior-day futures gain of 3.3 cents, forecasts of rapidly receding temperatures Wednesday in the Midcontinent and Midwest were able to keep a large majority of prices on an upward track Tuesday. Western lows scheduled to be in the 20s and 30s Wednesday in the Rockies and Pacific Northwest also contributed to the overall firmness, although most of Tuesday’s losses occurred in the Rockies.

Natural gas futures crashed lower for a third consecutive session Wednesday amid rumors that a large commodity trading firm was rapidly exiting its positions. August natural gas traded as low as $11.920 before closing out the day’s regular session at $12.006, down 36.2 cents from Tuesday’s finish.

The rapidly emerging shale gas plays across North America come at a higher cost than conventional resources, but this burgeoning supply could hold the line against the even higher prices of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), a ConocoPhillips executive told the GasMart 2008 audience last week.

Industrial endusers of natural gas have much to fret about in a world of rapidly escalating commodity prices, but the smart ones know that they can take measures to exert at least some control over their destinies.

Production from publicly traded companies, which was up 7% in the first quarter of the year, is being driven by stronger productivity from rapidly growing onshore resource plays like the Barnett Shale, temporarily overcoming the declining initial well productivity trends of core U.S. supply over the past decade, Raymond James & Associates said.

Industrial endusers of natural gas have much to fret about in a world of rapidly escalating commodity prices, but the smart ones know that they can take measures to exert at least some control over their destinies.

The rapidly emerging shale gas plays across North America come at a higher cost than conventional resources, but this burgeoning supply could hold the line against the even higher prices of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), a ConocoPhillips executive told the GasMart 2008 audience last week.

Production from publicly traded companies, which was up 7% in the first quarter of the year, is being driven by stronger productivity from rapidly growing onshore resource plays like the Barnett Shale, temporarily overcoming the declining initial well productivity trends of core U.S. supply over the past decade, Raymond James & Associates said Monday.