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Gastar Exploration Ltd. plans to suspend its Marcellus Shale capital program “for a short period” during the second half of the year while it monitors production results and allows time for constraints in midstream services to be worked out, CEO Russ Porter said Tuesday.

After a short-lived lull in late fall, North Dakota’s oil and natural gas production set new records at the end of last year, and the issuance of new drilling permits in January surged, the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) reported Friday.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) CEO Pete Miller believes a slump in North American onshore drilling will continue through this year, but the international energy equipment business is high on his radar, particularly in China.

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) says it will consider short-term water sales from two lakes in eastern Ohio to oil and natural gas operators drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Public opinion of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) among voters in New York State has shifted in favor of the practice, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

Statoil plans to boost its North American production from less than 100,000 boe/d in 2011 to more than 500,000 boe/d in 2020. In the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays of North Dakota, the company said it will get its oil to market through greatly expanded use of rail transport beginning in September.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the oilfield services sector should pick up steam over the next one to two years, with most of the activity centered in North America, according to a survey by Ernst & Young.

The physical market overall on average fell about 2 cents Wednesday in spite of short-term weather forecasts calling for warm temperatures and much of the Gulf of Mexico production shut-in. Midwest and eastern points were weak but California locations managed modest gains. At the close of futures trading the expired September contract had managed a 2.0 cent gain, reversing a string of four losses to $2.634 and October had gained 5.2 cents to $2.685. October crude oil fell 84 cents to $95.49/bbl.

Working natural gas inventories remain at historically high levels for this time of year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook for August. While it said inventory levels at the end of October will set a new record of 3,954 Bcf, that’s a small walk-back from the 4,000 Bcf EIA predicted last month.