Reported

U.S. drilling rigs paused in their return to the patch, with only one unit coming back to service in the inland waters and no returns in the offshore or land categories.

Sixteen land-based rigs left the U.S. pack, according to the latest tally by Baker Hughes Inc., offset by a gain of three offshore rigs to yield a net decline of 13 U.S. rigs.

The total amount of natural gas sold by participants in NGI’s quarterly marketers ranking survey increased only marginally in the first quarter of the year compared with 1Q2014, but the underlying markets are hardly stagnant.

The total amount of natural gas sold by participants in NGI's quarterly marketers ranking survey increased only marginally in the first quarter…

BP plc reported a 7% increase in North American natural gas marketed compared to the year-ago period and had more than double the sales transaction total of its nearest competitor in the third quarter of 2014. Half of the other companies participating in NGI’s 3Q2014 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking reported decreased sales compared with 3Q2013, leading to a lower overall total.

BP plc had another strong quarter, extending its lead on the rest of the field, but most of the two-dozen leading natural gas marketers participating in NGI’s 2Q2014 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking reported decreases compared with 2Q2013.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is far and away the leading natural gas operator in Pennsylvania after production in the first half of this year closed in on 400 Bcf, easily surpassing any other top-10 producer in the state.

Pennsylvania natural gas producers may be pulling back to focus on higher-margin targets, but their wells appear to have not gotten the message. Gas output in the commonwealth broke another record for the first half of 2014 (1H2014), topping out at just under 2 Tcf.

Sales by more than two dozen leading natural gas marketers during the first three months of 2014 increased 0.61 Bcf/d (about 0.5%) compared with 1Q2013, a small rebound for a market that had been on a downward slope for nearly two years, according to NGI’s 1Q2014 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.