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The United States lost 48 more land drilling rigs as of Friday, down 37 for oil and 11 for natural gas, which cut the domestic count to 1,250, versus 1,696 a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. Twenty-two rigs also were lost in Canada.

Hours ahead of EQT Corp.’s second quarter conference call on Thursday, the company tied into sales its first Utica Shale well, the CEO said.

Privately held Antero Resources Corp., which has all of its chips in the Appalachian Basin, plans to raise $1 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) of some of its stock on the New York Stock Exchange, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The operator also has increased capital spending plans for the year.

U.S. explorers took about a decade to claim and begin producing the huge onshore unconventional bounty. Now that they’ve got their rocks of plenty in hand, the task today is determining what to keep and what to toss, according to a Credit Suisse analyst.

Data just coming in from 2011 shows that investment in U.S. shale oil and gas drilling nearly doubled over 2010 levels, which vaulted shale plays to account for nearly one-quarter of all wells drilled in the United States, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Gulf of Mexico operator McMoRan Exploration Co. on Friday reported a big loss in the final three months of 2012 because of impairments and a sharp revenue decrease related in part to its gassy shallow-water operations.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) drilling has begun to deteriorate in some U.S. basins, Baker Hughes Inc. CEO Martin Craighead said Friday.

Monster U.S. oil supply growth will force domestic producers to curtail onshore activity in the upcoming weeks but it won’t be soon enough for 2013 oil prices, which likely will be “uglier than expected,” Raymond James & Associates Inc. analysts said Monday.

Williams management said Thursday it is primed for continued growth from the Marcellus Shale because producers want more natural gas takeaway capacity and stalwart Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) is ready to deliver the goods.