Shifted

State regulators continue to be the primary overseers of shale natural gas development, but because of the speed at which the boom shifted — and continues to shift — the energy marketplace, the dynamic environment has created challenges for the energy industry and all of the stakeholders involved, according to a report by Resources for the Future (RFF).

The Kentucky Oil and Gas Association’s (KOGA) first comprehensive research of the economic impact of the oil and gas industry found that the state had 14,632 producing natural gas wells in 2011 and produced more than 3 million bbl of oil in 2012, but the number of horizontal well permits issued has declined each year since 2009.

ExxonMobil Corp. produced lower U.S. natural gas production in the first three months of this year from a year ago, as the super major shifted rigs from dry gas to liquids targets. However, with more North American gas prospects than any other, the company stands ready to react if conditions dictate, investors relations chief David Rosenthal said Thursday.

ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday reported lower U.S. natural gas production year/year in the first quarter, as the super major shifted rigs from dry gas to liquids targets. However, with more North American gas prospects than any other, the company stands ready to react if conditions dictate, investors relations chief David Rosenthal said Thursday.

Major environmental groups leading opposition to the northern portion of the proposed $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Alberta to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico region lashed out at the U.S. State Department last Friday for not making public the comments being collected on the project’s draft supplemental environmental impact statement (see Shale Daily, March 4). Effectively, the only way to hear and respond to public comments on the draft study will be at a hearing scheduled for April 18 in Grand Island, NB, said a Friends of the Earth spokesperson, calling the move “unusual.” This is prompting the foes of Keystone XL to claim the State Department is violating public transparency practices followed by other federal agencies regarding draft environmental studies. The stakeholders are in the middle of a 45-day comment period on the proposed northern portion of TransCanada Corp.’s controversial tar sands oil pipeline from Western Canada to Cushing, OK.

The pecking order of liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers to Japan, the world’s largest importer of LNG, has shifted. For the first time, Australia has surpassed Qatar to take the No. 1 slot, according to EnergyQuest, a consultancy based in Australia.

Drilling in Eastern Tennessee’s dry gas Chattanooga Shale play has ceased due to low natural gas prices, so the focus has shifted to extracting oil from the state’s Fort Payne formation, which lies atop the Chattanooga. Miller Energy Resources, Inc. this week is shipping its first tanker truckload of oil produced from the Fort Payne’s only unconventional well, according to Gary Bible, vice president of geology for the Knoxville, TN-based firm.

Like many, but not all, producers, Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. has shifted to oil because that’s where the profits are.

With natural gas prices hitting a 10-year low this year, U.S. oil and gas companies have shifted their focus and added more profitable liquid-rich unconventional plays to their portfolios, leading to a dramatic increase in the number and total value of asset mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the third quarter of 2012, according to PwC US.