Upper

Wisconsin seems caught right in the middle of current economic woes — not as well off as some Upper Midwest states, but decidedly better off than Michigan, its neighbor across the Great Lakes — and Wisconsin Energy Corp. (WEC) sees continuing signs of slow recovery of the industrial sector, according to CEO Gale Klappa.

Thomas S. Liberatore has joined Eclipse Resources as a partner, executive vice president and COO, the State College, PA-based oil and gas company said. Liberatore, who resigned as vice president of Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s East region following a restructuring there two years ago (see Daily GPI, June 1, 2009), is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Appalachian Geological Society, has served on the board of directors of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association and is a past president of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia. Additionally, Brian Panetta, who was previously a geologist with Waco Oil & Gas and a senior geologist for Chesapeake Energy Corp., has joined Eclipse as vice president of geology. Eclipse focuses on the acquisition, exploration and development of unconventional oil and natural gas properties in the Appalachian Basin, including the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale and Upper Devonian shales.

April began Friday with fairly heavy snowfalls in upper New England, the eastern Midwest and even parts of the Pacific Northwest, according to The Weather Channel (TWC). But with warming trends due over the weekend, the belief that wintry weather was on its last legs except for remaining subfreezing patches in Canada resulted in softness being slightly dominant in a mixed cash market that was mostly flat or close to it.

Newfield Exploration Co. said Monday its hunch that the Maverick Basin in the Eagle Ford Shale “would hold thick, high-quality” pay has turned out to be true as it released initial results from its Eagle Ford assessment program.

Some market areas — such as from the Rockies and Western Canada through the Upper Plains and Midwest into the Northeast and Eastern Canada — had enough cold weather to justify the hefty price run-ups in Monday’s trading. Although some parts of the eastern South and Southwest would see lows approaching freezing Tuesday, their highs close to 50 or above made it a bit harder to rationalize their sizeable gains.

Natural gas futures slid lower in uninspired trading Monday and traders have begun to question the markets ability to test the upper end of its trading range. June futures fell 1.8 cents to $4.017 and July shed 3.1 cents to $4.075. July crude oil added 17 cents but the remaining contract months posted losses.

Natural gas futures retreated as observers see the market poised to work lower as it backs off from the upper end of its recent trading range. With prices as high as they have been recently, it may be a good time to sell, they say. June futures fell 3.9 cents to $4.131 and July skidded 4.6 cents to $4.225. June crude oil shed 43 cents to $76.37.

Consol Energy Inc. and Dominion announced a deal last week that will catapult Consol Energy to the “largest, most profitable Appalachian gas producer” and put it in the upper tier of unconventional gas reserves holders.

With portions of the Northeast still digging out from a weekend blizzard and another large winter storm looming over the Upper Midwest, Andover, MA-based WSI Corp. released a forecast on Monday — the first official day of winter — calling for temperatures across almost all of the country to average cooler than normal from January to March.