Upside

Natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shales should double over the next five years, surpassing Rockies output levels from 2012 and accounting for “over a quarter of U.S. Lower 48 gas production,” Wood Mackenzie upstream analysts are forecasting.

One of the 10 largest U.S. natural gas producers, Tulsa, OK-based WPX Energy Inc., said Monday that its Niobrara formation discovery well in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado has exceeded 1 Bcf of production in a little more than 100 days of operation.

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc., the Bakken’s largest leaseholder, said Monday it has raised its reserves estimates for parts of the Bakken Three Forks area by 57% to 903 billion bbl following completion of an initial test well.

Despite weak prices, there is “significant upside optionality” to natural gas, according to a Credit Suisse analyst.

In the space of six years, shale gas development has turned the U.S. energy world upside down, driving natural gas prices well below the $15/Mcf levels they reached following Gulf of Mexico hurricanes in 2005, former FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer said Wednesday in a webcast interview on the industry program “OnPoint.”

December natural gas rose Thursday as market bears had to endure the indignity of a government inventory report sharply lower than what was expected. In its 10:30 a.m. EST report the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said inventories rose by just 19 Bcf for the week ended Nov. 11, about 7 Bcf less than what traders were looking for. At the close December had risen 6.6 cents to $3.410 and January had gained 6.3 cents to $3.546. December crude oil plunged $3.77 to $98.82/bbl.

Showing quarter-over-quarter profits in its independent energy businesses, San Diego-based Sempra Energy has a lot of upside from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline/storage businesses, Sempra CEO Donald Felsinger said Tuesday.

A natural gas market eager to see whether last week’s breakout to the upside was warranted or a bout of overzealous exuberance received confirmation of the former on Monday as the July natural gas futures contract tested resistance at $5 for a second consecutive session before closing out the day at $4.916, up 11.9 cents from Friday’s regular session finish.

Unable to maintain the upside momentum that natural gas cash points have enjoyed for most of the last week and a half, averages on Wednesday fell in a big way, which just so happened to coincide with the first significant decline in front-month natural gas futures since the contract rollover on April 29.