Successful

The anticipated surplus of domestic natural gas supplies won’t automatically translate to successful liquefied natural gas (LNG) export operations, according to Terry Engelder, the Penn State University geosciences professor who helped prove the value of the Marcellus Shale. The United States can expect to face a tough spot market overseas.

Following the successful completion of its initial open season to sell firm storage services from natural gas storage assets located in north-central Pennsylvania, UGI Storage Co. commenced service April 1 for winning bidders, including Virginia Power Energy Marketing, UGI Central Penn Gas (UGI CPG), J. Aron/Goldman Sachs and New Jersey Resources Energy Services, the Reading, PA-based company said.

A series of bills that would affect the regulation of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) operations in Arkansas failed to clear a hurdle in the state’s House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Thursday and appeared unlikely to move to the full House during the current legislative session.

Petrohawk Energy Corp. on Tuesday announced it has conducted successful tests using a new flow-channel fracturing technique called HiWAY, created by Houston-based Schlumberger Ltd. The producer said 10-12 test wells in the Hawkville Field area of the Eagle Ford Shale play yielded increased production, which will lead to expanded use of the technology.

A relatively short trip from the Haynesville Shale and about as old as the Eagle Ford, the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) — which stretches from Texas through Louisiana and into Mississippi — could right now be considered the “penny stock” of the shale plays. Those who get in early will get in cheaply, but they’ll have to stomach some risk as the play is not yet a sure thing like its more mature peers.

The Eagle Ford Shale, where oil and natural gas development began in earnest less than three years ago, is making a big economic footprint in the 24-county South Texas area where it lies, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

The pace of development at Encana Corp. was hampered in 2010 by low natural gas prices, but farm-ins, partnerships and joint ventures (JV) similar to the $5.4 billion transaction with an affiliate of PetroChina International Ltd. will help the company double its production growth over the next five years, CEO Randy Eresman said Thursday.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who waged a successful campaign last fall to serve another term in the Senate, has been confirmed as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Resources Committee by the panel’s Republican members. The selection was ratified by the full Senate Republican Caucus at a luncheon Tuesday.

Dozens of countries have launched programs to attempt to emulate the successful exploitation of shale in the United States, but it will take more than copying a formula, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).