Tight

ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said Wednesday shale natural gas, tight oil and oilsands no longer are the “pie-in-the-sky future sources” that they were when he entered the energy workforce 38 years ago. Unconventional resources have changed North America’s energy security and thus the rules also need to be changed, he said.

Led by increases of 9% (0.37 Bcf/d) in the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico and 1.9% (0.37 Bcf/d) in other states, natural gas production in the Lower 48 states increased 1.4% (0.96 Bcf/d) in October compared with the previous month, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The increases were partially explained by wells coming back online that had been shut-in due to Tropical Storm Lee and drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale play, according to EIA’s Monthly Natural Gas Production Report. Offshore production, which has also have suffered from the moratorium on drilling there that followed the blowout of BP plc’s Macondo well (see see NGI, April 26, 2010), remains well below year-ago levels. Gross production from the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico was 4.49 Bcf/d in October, a nearly 25% decline from 5.95 Bcf/d in the year-ago period, according to EIA. Overall, U.S. production climbed 1.3% (1.05 Bcf/d) in October from September to 80.10 Bcf/d and were up 6.4% (4.85 Bcf/d) from the year-ago period, according to EIA. Wyoming posted a gain of 2.9% (0.19 Bcf/d); Alaska climbed 1.0% (0.09 Bcf/d); Texas was up 0.5% (0.12 Bcf/d); and Oklahoma remained unchanged at 5.37%. At the same time, Louisiana experienced a 0.7% decline (minus 0.06 Bcf/d) and New Mexico posted a decline of 0.8% (0.03 Bcf/d).

An interior oil and natural gas supply glut, the result of strong output from shales and tight oil and gas plays, is developing because infrastructure can’t keep up, and that in turn is pressuring prices, according to energy analysts.

An interior oil and natural gas supply glut, the result of strong output from shales and tight oil and gas plays, is developing because infrastructure can’t keep up, and that in turn is pressuring prices, according to Canaccord Genuity.

A rush for liquids-rich natural gas and tight oil embedded in dense rock formations, using shale drilling methods imported from the United States, is bailing the Alberta government out of sinking deeply into the red.

Range Resources Corp. credited its second quarter results to a simple factor: better rocks.

The pace of development in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is fast and steady, yet “the [stock] market continues to not appreciate the statistical and predictable nature of the learning curve” in the play, said analysts at FBR Capital Markets. They noted that in other shale plays, more wells have equaled greater knowledge, which has yielded predictable productivity gains.

The number of rigs targeting oil and natural gas in U.S. tight sands and shale plays saw a significant drop during the week ending May 20, while oil and gas prices hovered in their recent comfort zones, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.

The number of rigs targeting oil and natural gas in U.S. tight sands and shale plays saw a significant drop during the week ending May 20, while oil and gas prices hovered in their recent comfort zones, according to NGI’s Shale Daily Unconventional Rig Count.