Starting

In a reversal not seen for a number of months, North Dakota oil/natural gas officials on Friday reported a decline in month-over-month production for both oil and gas in January, and some of the sour weather conditions attributed to the drop may keep production down well into May, according to Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

Unlike natural gas, oil can be carried in a bucket — or in a rail car — as is increasingly the case in the Bakken Shale, for instance, where the drill bit has gotten ahead of the pipeline, way ahead of the pipeline, in offering oil producers a route to market.

It won’t happen this year, but starting in 2014 there should be a sharp increase in oil production in California, according to Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) CEO Steve Chazen, speaking last Thursday on a year-end quarterly earnings conference call.

Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Commissioner David Porter, founder of the state’s Eagle Ford Task Force, wants more excess natural gas to be used for power generation at drilling sites instead of being flared.

The head of Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is retiring, and Gov. Matt Mead said on Monday that he is starting a search for a replacement. DEQ Director John Corra, who has headed the department for two different governors since 2003, will stay on the job until October. Mead lauded Corra for setting “a standard for effective and balanced regulation with fiscal prudence.” Mead has asked for interested candidates to submit a letter of interest and resume to his office (2090 W. 24th St. Cheyenne, WY, 82002).

The majority of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale drilling law is just starting to go into effect, but two state lawmakers are already proposing tweaks, one small and one large.

What does the largest North American natural gas producer do when prices aren’t going its way? Move rigs to liquids plays, ExxonMobil investor relations chief David Rosenthal said Tuesday.

Despite last Thursday’s announced delay in U.S. State Department processing and earlier criticisms of inflated economic benefits from the project (see Shale Daily, Nov. 9), the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico ultimately should be approved, according to project sponsor TransCanada.

It likely will last only a few days before starting to diminish again, but heating load is building from the Midwest through a wide snowy swath of the Rockies, and the South and Northeast can expect to feel a similar chill as the weekend approaches. The result was a second day of firming cash quotes at nearly all points.