Shale Daily

Developing domestic gas resources could boost gross domestic product by 5% a year for the next 40 years, creating more jobs and powering the economy, says a former Shell Oil Co. chief.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has given Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. permission to resume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations at a natural gas well in Wyoming County that malfunctioned last month.

Six energy prognosticators over the past week have raised their outlooks for domestic natural gas prices this year, with one indicating that $4.50/MMBtu this summer is “on the table” based on a colder-than-expected end to winter and slowing production in major onshore basins.

Canada Minister of International Trade Ed Fast said his country is an “energy superpower” that “must” export more oil and natural gas to Asian markets in announcing plans for a trade mission to China and Japan in hopes of increasing exports.

The natural gas bonanza brought about by unconventional drilling may be displacing coal and diesel as a “cleaner” fuel, but methane leaks from the surge in drilling and processing destroy that advantage, according to the environmental think tank World Resources Institute (WRI).

The Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) has named a dozen finalists in its annual Shale Gas Innovation Competition, which will award a total of $75,000 to three winners to be selected next month.

PDC Energy wells in the Codell formation of Colorado’s Wattenberg Field are outperforming those in the Niobrara, and the independent plans to drill as many Codell horizontal wells as Niobrara horizontals this year, company officials said during an analyst day conference in New York Thursday.

Two key legislators in the Pennsylvania General Assembly introduced a pair of bills on Wednesday designed to make natural gas service available to more consumers in the state.

Resolute Energy Corp. said Friday it plans to run with the Wolfcamp pack this year and increase net production by more than 50% over the 2012 level, reflecting, in part, recent acquisitions in Midland and Ector counties, TX.