reliability

Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. continued to increase its emphasis on oil over natural gas with an agreement to sell its West Tavaputs gas property in the Uinta Basin in Utah.

Denver-based Berry Petroleum Co. said Wednesday it expects to see its natural gas assets in the Piceance in Colorado and East Texas Haynesville/Bossier Shale decline this year as its continues to target its investment toward oil assets in the Uinta and Permian Basins.

Houston-based Shell Trading Risk Management LLC, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc, has applied to become a registered swaps dealer, according to a registry kept by the National Futures Association (NFA).

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use in the United States last year reached their lowest levels in two decades, in part from a combination of more natural gas use for electric generation, as well as recent mild winters and reduced transportation demand, according to reports published this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday announced an anticipated publication schedule for reports that were delayed by the recent federal government shutdown.

Wunderlich Securities is holding steady on its forecast for U.S. natural gas prices, but other analysts aren’t quite as optimistic about what’s ahead through the end of this year and into 2014.

Seneca Resources Corp. credited the Marcellus Shale for “tremendous growth” during the fiscal fourth quarter, with production and reserves posting big gains — reserves to a record high — and a successful drilling program in Pennsylvania allowing it to raise production guidance for 2014.

Wednesday physical natural gas trading for Thursday delivery saw widespread weakness of a few pennies at most spots around the country offset by significant strength in California and New England, where colder temperatures were beginning to set in.

Newport Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., one of the nation’s largest providers of natural gas transportation fuels and fueling infrastructure, said Monday it has formed a strategic alliance with the transportation finance unit of General Electric Corp. (GE) aimed at heavy duty trucking fleets.