Terms

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. saw profits shrink but production rise in the first quarter compared to the year-ago period, the result of low natural gas prices combined with expansion of operations in the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales.

Pennsylvania may be water-rich, but factors like permitting and geography make water increasingly difficult to come by for drilling operations, several Marcellus Shale players told a Pittsburgh-area audience on Wednesday.

Even if producers are prevented from hydraulically fracturing (fracking) wells in New York, they may not declare a force majeure and still must pay property owners to hold the leases, a district court judge has ruled.

Setting aside the “near-term noise” in terms of North American natural gas fundamentals, prices should average below $4.00/Mcf this year, with summer contracts averaging around $3.25, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said last week.

Setting aside the “near-term noise” in terms of North American natural gas fundamentals, prices should average below $4.00/Mcf this year, with summer contracts averaging around $3.25, Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday.

A bill in a Texas House committee if passed would repeal a natural gas drilling tax break that benefits the vast majority of wells in the state’s shale gas plays. The bill’s sponsor says the incentive has outlived its usefulness, but an industry advocate claims its repeal would be a gas production- and job-killer.

Reporting some sobering financial results for year-end 2010, NRG Energy Inc.’s CEO David Crane talked in less than bullish terms about the prospects for natural gas-fired generation and his company’s bet on new nuclear generation in Texas during a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday. But Crane was still upbeat about solar energy and the inevitability of “sustainability” becoming a key market factor in energy development.

In terms of volatility, the cash market came to a near-standstill Wednesday as gains and losses were approximately even and only a few locations ventured more than a nickel in either direction.

Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP has agreed to acquire the Spring Ridge gas gathering system and related facilities in the Haynesville Shale from Chesapeake Midstream Development LP, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (Chesapeake), for $500 million cash.