Targets

Energy commodity prices aren’t cooperating in any arena at the moment, but ConocoPhillips is confident that diverting its natural gas rigs to more liquids targets in North America is the right path forward, CEO Ryan Lance said last week.

Energy commodity prices aren’t cooperating in any arena at the moment, but ConocoPhillips is confident that diverting its natural gas rigs to more liquids targets in North America is the right path forward, CEO Ryan Lance said Wednesday.

EQT Corp. has launched a pilot program to begin converting its Marcellus Shale drilling rigs from diesel-powered equipment to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Pittsburgh-based company said Thursday.

Joining the months-long trend in the industry of transitioning from dry natural gas targets to more liquids-rich plays due to market economics, Dallas-based Matador Resources Co. said recently its 2012 plans will target the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas while ramping down the development of its Haynesville Shale acreage in North Louisiana.

A growing number of producers are shying away from dry gas drilling and instead pointing their drillbits at liquids-rich and oil targets, but drillers are “soldiering on” despite stubbornly low natural gas prices and “are set to do what they do best: drill,” according to energy analysts with Barclays Capital Markets.

A growing number of producers are shying away from dry gas drilling and instead pointing their drill bits at liquids-rich and oil targets, but drillers are “soldiering on” despite stubbornly low natural gas prices and “are set to do what they do best: drill,” according to energy analysts with Barclays Capital Markets.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is joining its brethren in staking out liquids-rich shale development in North America while at the same time it works to leverage value from its extensive natural gas portfolio, executives said last week.

The Bakken Shale and underlying Three Forks formation in North Dakota are the latest targets for independent exploration and production company Breitling Oil and Gas Corp., which in 2011 reported progress in oil and gas projects in its focus areas in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Canadian producers are riding shale gas technology imported from the United States to complete an about-face in drilling targets this year by switching over to tight oil formations.