An article at Bnet.com reports that Chesapeake Energy has an aggressive budget for 2009/2010 for exploration and production.

StatoilHydro is bidding to be selected for a Russian natural gas project on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia. The area is in a remote and difficult environment. More in a Bloomberg.com article.

Lots of people want more out of their low-yield wells! The University of Utah has partnered with a geothermal company to determine if the hydrofracing process will stimulate their low-yield wells in hot rock.

Some leaders in the shale gas industry believe that releasing the composition of hydrofracturing chemicals will disarm those who believe that they are dangerous. More in a Reuters article.

A BP executive says that the United States could reduce carbon dioxide emissions if they switched coal power plants and other coal consumption to natural gas.

Comment: If they were really serious about natural gas and the balance of trade they could have tied natural gas vehicles to the Auto Industry Bailouts or to the Clunkers program.

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Chevron has made what is thought to be the largest natural gas discovery in Bangladesh in more than a decade. More at AFP.

A Canadian Press article explains how horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have converted organic rich shales into viable natural gas plays.

An opinion column in The Philadelphia Inquirer questions why Pennsylvania has not instituted a severance tax on natural gas produced from the Marcellus shale similar to the taxes on gas levied in other states. Pennsylvania is having budget problems and some view the tax as a deserved form of revenue.

A TimesOnline article reports on a Duquesne University economist who expects the price of natural gas to move up and possibly double by mid-2010.

If that is true, why have 1792 Marcellus drilling permits been issued in Pennsylvania since 2005 but only 76 of those wells are making gas?

An article on the PennLive website reports that a landowners group has negotiated a lease agreement in which they will be paid $5750/acre for their acreage above the Marcellus Shale.

An article in the New York Times explores the position of natural gas in climate legislation and questions why all of the new shale gas plays have not earned it more prominent position?

In contrast to the report by Nexen (see below), EnCana is quoted in a Globe and Mail article saying that the Horn River Shale is uneconomic with current gas prices.

Quoted from a Nexen press release: “Nexen continues to make significant progress on its substantial Horn River shale gas position in north-east British Columbia following the conclusion of a recent three-well drilling and completion program. With five shale gas wells now on-stream, we are producing between 15-20 mmcf/d with the majority of production coming from the three new wells. Substantial cost savings and productivity improvements were realized with this drilling and completion program. We took advantage of improved equipment utilization, drilled longer wells, initiated more fracs per well and maintained an industry-leading frac pace of 26 fracs in 15 days while achieving a 100% success rate on our frac program. Two of the wells were completed with eight fracs, while the third well was completed with ten fracs.”

An article in the Calgary Herald explores Canadian natural gas trends. Conventional production has been falling rapidly in response to costs. And, while unconventional production is climbing, it might not climb fast enough to replace the rate of conventional decline.