Years

Rapid development of the Marcellus Shale is attracting new exploration and production (E&P) activity, a trend that is affecting long-standing national and regional gas flows, as well as regional pricing, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

Gulfport Energy Corp. reportedly has the best producing well to date in the Utica Shale, according to initial production (IP) data released by the Oklahoma City-based operator.

Bonus payments to landowners with oil and natural gas leases climbed to new highs during the third quarter, but they skyrocketed in Ohio’s Utica Shale, according to a survey by Farmers National Co. (FNC), a real estate management firm that also tracks data for landowners.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) and the Shale Gas Insight 2012 Conference last week, but he warned the industry to do more to earn the public’s trust that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is safe.

If there is a “bet-the-farm” opportunity in natural gas infrastructure, it lies in the potential production growth in the Utica and Marcellus shale formations, according to Mark McGettrick, CFO of Dominion Resources in Virginia.

Saying it is “a great time to be a Pennsylvanian,” Gov. Tom Corbett thanked the oil and natural gas industry for bringing thousands of jobs to his state and predicted an even brighter future as he kicked off the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Gas Insight 2012 Conference in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told attendees of a Philadelphia clean energy conference that he believes hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be done safely, but added that he supports the de facto moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Basin and would even back a genuine one.

Royal Dutch Shell, which has spent nearly $5 billion over the past seven years to drill in Alaska’s offshore, suspended its plans to drill for oil and natural gas in Arctic waters this year due to damage to a containment system caused by sea ice.

Total Gas & Power Ltd. has signed a deal to sell to South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) 0.7 million metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years from Cheniere Energy Partners LP’s Sabine Pass Liquefaction LNG export terminal in Louisiana. The LNG would be lifted following startup of the terminal’s third train, which is scheduled for commissioning in 2017, Total said.