Respectively

The pace of development at Encana Corp. was hampered in 2010 by low natural gas prices, but farm-ins, partnerships and joint ventures (JV) similar to the $5.4 billion transaction with an affiliate of PetroChina International Ltd. will help the company double its production growth over the next five years, CEO Randy Eresman said Thursday.

GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR) said it has branched out from its Haynesville/Bossier natural gas-directed properties, collecting about 67,724 net acres within the core horizontal oil development areas of the Bakken/Sanish-Three Forks Formation in the Williston Basin and the Niobrara Formation in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin.

The Fayetteville Shale in northern Arkansas not only appears destined for sustained significant growth well into the future but commands some of the highest shale pricing around. One of the chief signals of these optimistic expectations was the Dec. 1 start-up of service on Fayetteville Express Pipeline (FEP), providing a major addition to takeaway capacity for the shale’s producers.

Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc. and Marathon Oil Co. have agreed to pay the United States $2,219,974.98 and $4,697,476.57, respectively, to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.

Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities on Tuesday asked regulators in the states of Washington and Idaho to lower natural gas prices in their states by 8.1% and 6.7%, respectively, effective June 1. If approved, this would be the second gas price drop for Avista customers in the two states this year.

Fayetteville Shale-focused producer Southwestern Energy Co. has decided to wait out low natural gas and oil prices and will cut more rigs and more money, the CEO said Tuesday. The news came after the producer reported that it more than doubled its gas and oil production in 1Q2009 from a year ago.

Fayetteville Shale-focused producer Southwestern Energy Co. has decided to wait out low natural gas and oil prices and will cut more rigs and more money, the CEO said Tuesday. The news came after the producer reported that it more than doubled its gas and oil production in 1Q2009 from a year ago.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu were sworn in Wednesday at the White House as secretaries of the departments of Interior and Energy, respectively.

After regrouping the previous two sessions as August natural gas futures recorded a gain of 3.3 cents and a drop of 6 cents, respectively, the bears were on the prowl again on Tuesday as the prompt-month contract had 44.3 cents sliced from its value. The contract dipped below $10 on Tuesday before closing at $10.067 while August crude also got back to its recent bearish ways by dropping $3.09 to finish at $127.95/bbl.