Shale

The long-standing, steady upward trend of natural gas and oil production increases out of the United States’ seven most prolific onshore unconventional plays will continue in June, with gas output surpassing 80 Bcf/d and oil nearing 8.50 million b/d, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

CNX Resources Corp. on Thursday signaled a cautious approach for its operations this year, laying out a flexible plan for “minimum” activity that could increase if the outlook for natural gas improves in the coming months.

West Virginia has been accepted as the 14th member of the Energy Council, an international nonpartisan legislative organization whose members are focused on a wide variety of energy-related issues.

Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. said Tuesday it has been granted the first consent by the UK government to perform hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for an onshore horizontal natural gas well, with operations to begin by September.

Global petrochemical giant Ineos said Tuesday it plans to invest more than $3 billion to build a world scale ethane cracker and propane dehydrogenation unit in northwest Europe to take better advantage of U.S. natural gas supplies.

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the largest state-owned producer of oil and natural gas in the country, reportedly plans to nearly double natural gas production from shale sources this year and wants a five-fold increase in such production by 2020.

The shale gale has been the driving force enabling the United States to shift from being dependent on foreign energy to becoming a net natural gas exporter, but don’t expect similar transformations in most other shale-rich countries any time soon, a group of officials from international companies said Wednesday.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) on Monday snapped up its first significant international stakes in unconventional oil and natural gas resources in an agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. to become an equity holder in the Vaca Muerta formation onshore in Argentina’s Neuquén Basin.

Southwestern Energy Co. has asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reconsider an opinion issued earlier this month that could find unconventional oil and gas producers liable for subsurface trespass, arguing that a two-judge panel misunderstood crucial facts and claiming the case is of “national significance.”