Slightly

November natural gas is set to open 4 cents higher Tuesday morning at $2.48 in spite of only minor adjustments to near-term weather outlooks and a looming record storage inventory. Overnight oil markets gained.

During the first quarter, Quicksilver Resources Inc. lost more money than Wall Street was expecting as the company continued to “hammer on the cost side” of its business, deferring elective spending in the energy patch and cutting back on staff.

Two separate polls conducted by Quinnipiac University show voters in New York and Ohio have very different opinions of shale gas development, with almost two-thirds of Ohioans saying the economic benefits outweigh any environmental concerns, while nearly half of New Yorkers opposed to drilling.

Opposition to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York State has grown slightly, according to a Siena College Research Institute poll released Monday.

The Marcellus and Utica shales aren’t drawing near the attention they have been, according to a review of 4Q2012 mergers and transactions (M&A) in the United States by PwC US.

The New Mexico State Land Office pulled in $2.39 million in proceeds Tuesday from its January oil and natural gas lease sale, which covered slightly more than 7,200 acres. Those numbers vary with the state’s December and November proceeds last year, which were $5.8 million and $3.85 million, respectively, for about 10,000 acres in each case (see Daily GPI, Nov. 28, 2012).

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects total domestic marketed natural gas production to increase to 69.8 Bcf/d in 2013 from 69.2 Bcf/d in 2012, and to drop slightly to 69.5 Bcf/d in 2014. Growth in Lower 48 onshore production, driven largely by the Marcellus Shale and other shale plays, will continue through 2014, although it will be offset by Gulf of Mexico declines, EIA said.

NFR Energy LLC has closed two private deals worth a combined $736 million to acquire assets in the Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. The company also announced that First Reserve Corp. has increased its interest in the parent company, NFR Holdings LLC, to 99.7% and NFR is to be renamed Sabine Oil & Gas LLC.

In the November offering, 29 tracts totaling slightly less than 10,000 acres of oil and natural gas leases were sold in four southeastern New Mexico counties, including three in the Permian Basin, New Mexico’s Land Office said Monday. All 29 tracts offered were sold among 10 bidders.