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Setting aside low natural gas prices and unseasonably warm weather in the first quarter, Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. is riding the continuing Bakken Shale boom in its home state, growing its oil production 19% for the first three months of this year and increasing its working rig count from two to 10 for its exploration and production (E&P) unit over the most recent quarter-over-quarter period.

Bogged down for more than two years at FERC on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import application, the backers of Oregon LNG instead plan to turn their site at the mouth of the Columbia River into a bidirectional facility that would export Western Canadian gas supplies to lucrative Asian markets. All thee major federal filings are to be made within weeks, Project Manager Peter Hansen told NGI.

Seeking to create a uniform standard for how the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian Basin goes about drill site planning, developing and restoring the landscape once operations are complete, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) has released its first Recommended Practices (RP) report.

In an attempt to turn the tables on Republicans, who have been relentless in their attacks on the administration’s energy policies, President Obama Tuesday called on Congress to provide funding for his five-part plan to combat manipulation, fraud and excessive speculation in the energy markets, particularly the oil market. While the oil market is the primary target of the president’s plan, the administration effort does have implications for natural gas traders and contracts.

Shale and other unconventional resource plays are getting their own information clearinghouse at the University at Buffalo (UB) College of Arts and Sciences geology department

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is proposing legislation that would require real-time monitoring of all natural gas wells and pipelines in the state.

Both cash and futures worked their way lower in active trading Tuesday with futures traders almost of the mind that $1-plus futures prices are just around the corner. The physical market saw broad weakness east of the Continental Divide, but cooler weather on the West Coast and additional loads at Northeast points provided notable strong points and quotes finished solidly in the black. At the close of futures trading May had shed 7.6 cents to $2.031 to reach a new set of 10-year low prices and June had dropped 7.1 cents to $2.152. May crude oil tumbled $1.44 to $101.02/bbl.

FERC Friday approved a request by Energy Transfer Equity LP subsidiaries Trunkline LNG Co., Trunkline LNG Export and Trunkline Gas Co. to initiate a prefiling review process for their plans to build a natural gas liquefaction project and associated facilities in Lake Charles, LA.

The California Department of Conservation (DOC) is requesting that oil and natural gas operators voluntarily disclose where they are using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for their drilling operations and what chemicals are being used in the process. Meanwhile, the state legislature has reintroduced a proposal to require the drilling information, which already has been enacted by several states across the country and is being voluntarily disclosed by many of the biggest operators in the shale business (see Shale Daily, March 30).