Struggle

Despite an ongoing struggle to clear a blockage on its Davy Jones prospect, considered one of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow waters, McMoRan Exploration Co.’s exploration results “remain positive,” the New Orleans-based producer said.

A pair of votes last week highlighted the struggle Pennsylvania’s local governments are having with a new regulatory package of shale development.

A pair of votes Tuesday highlighted the struggle Pennsylvania’s local governments are having with a new regulatory package of shale development.

What would you call a lot of natural gas, ready at a moment’s notice? Some might call it a storage facility. Others might call it the Marcellus Shale.

April natural gas futures drifted lower Wednesday in uninspired activity as traders monitored what seemed to be an ongoing struggle for the April contract to settle above $4.

SM Energy Co. said it plans to spend $1.04 billion next year, $830 million of that on drilling, mostly in the Eagle Ford Shale and the Bakken/Three Forks in the Williston Basin. The company’s putting its money in “all the right places,” according to an analyst at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities Inc.

Utah and PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power utility struggle with climate change pressures that bump up against the state’s cheap source of electricity from abundant coal-fired generation. The utility thinks there is room to accommodate both, and state officials have not proposed new restrictions on existing generators.

In a classic David vs. Goliath struggle, small oil service companies in Louisiana last week won the first two rounds of the court battle over the enforcement of the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). But while the Interior Department may have been defeated, the fight is far from over.

The updated reserves reporting rules enacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies may prove a struggle for independents in choosing whether to be aggressive with their bookings versus a more conservative approach, particularly when booking proved undeveloped (PUD) locations, analysts said Thursday.