Tracks

Schlumberger Ltd. and Baker Hughes Inc. said they plan to report lower-than-expected profits for the final quarter of 2012 because of a slowdown in North American drilling activity and overcapacity in pressure pumping services.

Plaintiffs suing two municipalities in New York State for enacting bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will soon have their day in court. Meanwhile, the city of Binghamton, which had its day in court — and lost — is considering an appeal.

An initiative to tax the horizontal segments of natural gas wells was stopped in its tracks by Louisiana House and Senate committees Monday when lawmakers refused to go along with the idea promoted by the Louisiana Tax Commission.

About 351 energy projects — both conventional and alternative — have been stopped in their tracks nationwide due to a sluggish permitting process and environmental opponents, costing the U.S. economy $1.1 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) over a seven year period and 1.9 million jobs annually, according to a report released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last Thursday.

About 351 energy projects — both conventional and alternative — have been stopped in their tracks nationwide due to a sluggish permitting process and environmental opponents. This is costing the U.S. economy $1.1 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) over a seven year period and 1.9 million jobs annually, according to a report released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Thursday.

U.S. natural gas pipeline capacity traded in the first nine months of 2010 jumped by 143% year/year to more than 8.3 Bcf/d, according to Capacity Center, which tracks activity on every domestic interstate pipeline.

U.S. natural gas pipeline capacity traded in the first nine months of 2010 jumped by 143% year/year to more than 8.3 Bcf/d, according to Capacity Center, which tracks activity on every domestic interstate pipeline.

Despite having two tropical storms and a number of other disturbances on the weather radar, the nonthreatening tracks of the storms combined with a healthy storage build to help November natural gas futures work lower in its first regular session action as front month. On Thursday, the contract settled at $6.919, down 12.7 cents from Wednesday.

The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers said Wednesday that the Texas PetroIndex, which tracks 25 oil and natural gas industry indicators in 22 states, increased 18% in the first four months of the year over 2004.