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A key legislator in Pennsylvania said he plans to introduce a bill to create a nine-member Marcellus Shale Health Advisory Panel in the near future, a move suggested in the past by both Gov. Tom Corbett and the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission (MSAC).

Inflated by production from the nation’s burgeoning shale plays, total gross withdrawals of domestic natural gas jumped to 28.58 Tcf in 2011, a 6.5% increase from 26.84 Tcf in 2010, and are on pace to easily surpass those numbers again this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review for September.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Tuesday announced that it will hold an oil and natural gas auction on Nov. 7 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), its second in less than a year, offering producers 400 tracts and an estimated 4.5 million acres to explore.

The closing weeks of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs until Nov. 30, will see what has been a busy tropical season winding down quickly, according to Weather Services International (WSI), which increased its forecast to 17 named storms, including nine hurricanes, two of them major (Category 3 or higher).

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released an environmental assessment (EA) of XTO Energy Inc.’s proposed Riverbend gas project and is seeking public comment by Oct. 10.

Based on production data verifiable to date, the Marcellus Shale will become the “King of the Gas Shales” by 2015 at the latest, U.S. energy analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said in a new report.

In the film industry, directors give notes to actors about how to improve their performances. The energy industry has turned the tables on Gasland director Josh Fox, giving him some pointers for the sequel to his anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) film.

Tomball, TX-based independent JBL Energy Partners and its partners completed the sale of an interest in 17,000 acres in Leon County, TX, within the Woodbine oil play to Halcon Resources. The sale included all oil, gas and mineral rights owned by JBL and its partners within the acreage position.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wednesday the state hopes to avoid a lengthy court battle with the City of Longmont over newly enacted natural gas and oil drilling regulations, which challenge the state’s authority to regulate energy operations.