Lots of natural gas records are being set in British Columbia. An article in the Vancouver Sun says that provincial gas reserves are at a new high and a record $1.8 billion was collected from gas leases on provincial land.

People in Utah are buying natural gas cars as fast as they can find them. The reason: these cars get a gasoline gallon’s worth of mileage for just 87 cents worth of natural gas. More in a New York Times article.

Some speculation at the Seeking Alpha blog about the major oil companies getting into the organic black shale natural gas business. This might happen through buy-outs or lease purchases as the small companies have a huge head start in acquiring the best acreage.

Horizontal drilling is used in more than a natural gas production well. The companies that build gas pipelines are able to drill horizontal wells to install gas collection pipelines 20 or more feet below the surface – deep enough to avoid waterlines, sewers and other underground utilities. Here’s an article telling one story near Fort Worth.

Natural gas production is up 9% this year after a steady production decrease since 1984. The turning point was the discovery of the new shale gas plays such as the Barnett, Marcellus, Haynesville, Fayetteville and others. More on this story at MoneyMorning.com.

Aurora Oil & Gas Corporation traded acre-by-acre a large number of New Albany Shale leases in an effort to optimize their holdings. The trading partner in this deal was not mentioned. See the report at YourOilAndGasNews.com.

This article has a great photo of the water lines used on one Marcellus well in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County. The subject of the article is the water challenges faced by drillers who are managing wells in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania.

A Penn State Cooperative Extension seminar contained some interesting advice from an attorney to property owners about natural gas leases and royalties. Details at the CitizenVoice website.

The United States is leading the way in developing its natural gas from shale resources. An article at the redOrbit website says that the gas rush mentality is just starting to hit Europe. The article reports on a six year study that is just getting started. Most likely an expert on the stratigraphy of Europe could count the best deposits on his/her fingers today.

The Fort Worth Business Press has an artilce “The Business of Change“. Perhaps the gem in this article is a story that Freeport LNG (liquified natural gas) has been importing natural gas INTO the United States for years. Now they have filed a request to EXPORT the commodity.

In May, 2009 wastewater facilities must obtain special permission to accept water from Marcellus Shale drilling operations. There are a few facilities in Pennsylvania which are specifically designed to treat the water but they have a combined capacity of a few hundred thousand gallons per day. More are needed to treat the volume of water that will be produced from the thousands of wells that will be drilled. More information in TheDailyReview.com.

A positive article on the current drilling boom in shale gas was published in the New York Times. It could lower the cost of US utility bills and make our energy-intensive industries more competitive, among other things.

The Marcellus Shale took most of the natural gas industry by surprise as its potential was recently realized so it is not too surprising that state government was surprised as well. Now they are playing “catch up” and are looking at some aggressive action on environmental fronts. more in the Times-Tribune.

According to an article at TheAdvocate, the state of Louisiana will earn nearly $100 million from the Haynesville Shale this month. Next month will be another big one as 11,000 acres of state land go up for lease.

Thousands of wells will be drilled in Pennsylvania within the next few years to tap the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Workers will need skills to fill these jobs. Lacawanna College is launching an oil and gas technology program to produce skilled workers for this industry. More at the Times-Tribune.com.