Reporting

On the heels of selling off much of its Barnett Shale assets to focus on the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale and Niobrara Formation, Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. is reporting record production rates from the second quarter of the year.

Rex Energy Corp. is joining the ranks of companies pursuing the Utica Shale of eastern Ohio. The State College, PA-based company recently acquired 11,000 net acres in Carroll County, OH, for an estimated $40 million and plans to continue acquiring acreage in preparation for a drilling program in 2012.

Six major producers in the Marcellus Shale say they expect to recycle or inject all of their wastewater by the end of the year, according to information released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday.

Local businesses in two of the most active counties in the Marcellus Shale are reporting increased sales, but also some difficulties holding onto employees, according to a study from Penn State University released Sunday.

While reporting robust earnings growth quarter over quarter, San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s senior officials predicted Monday that the holding company’s two major California utilities will satisfy an ongoing state probe on pressure testing natural gas transmission pipelines without any adverse impact on earnings.

A rise in shale gas supplies and implications from last fall’s San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion have caused California Energy Commission (CEC) planners to rethink their update of the state’s 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report.

General Electric views the future of energy globally as upbeat, citing several “positive trends in energy” in reporting a 58% hike in its operating earnings to $3.5 billion in the first quarter this year, compared to the same period in 2010. Both CEO Jeffrey Immelt and CFO Keith Sherin talked bullishly about GE’s various energy plays, particularly global turbine orders, during a conference call with financial analysts Thursday.

The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which was formed earlier this month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and tasked with reporting back to the governor by July, held its first meeting in Harrisburg Friday.

Reporting some sobering financial results for year-end 2010, NRG Energy Inc.’s CEO David Crane talked in less than bullish terms about the prospects for natural gas-fired generation and his company’s bet on new nuclear generation in Texas during a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday. But Crane was still upbeat about solar energy and the inevitability of “sustainability” becoming a key market factor in energy development.