An article in the Calgary Herald explores how several large oil and gas companies have recently taken big stakes in the natural gas shales (ExxonMobil, Total, Shell, Reliance) and a coal company, Consol Energy, is buying natural gas assets from Dominion Resources.

An article at Market Watch reports that Exxon Mobil now has approval from both US and Dutch regulatory agencies for its purchase of XTO Energy. The significance of this deal is the entry of Exxon Mobil into the US onshore natural gas sector.

Reliance Industries, one of India’s largest companies hopes to enter a partnership with Atlas Energy for a stake in their Marcellus Shale natural gas operations. More in an article at Reuters.

In this video CONSOL Energy CEO, Brett Harvey, talks about the company’s purchase of natural gas assets from Dominion Resources. He seems to think highly of the potential for natural gas. A quote: “Natural Gas will be the chosen fuel.” (Consol already owns a lot of coal mines between the surface and the Marcellus Shale which create conflicting land use problems when drilling for natural gas.)

“EIA expects U.S. net imports to be slightly higher in 2010 as a projected decline in pipeline imports is offset by lower exports and higher imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). While cold weather across the northern hemisphere has helped absorb some of the new LNG supply that has recently come on-stream, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by nearly 0.8 Bcf/d over last year in the first quarter 2010. For 2010 as a whole, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by about 45 percent (or 0.56 Bcf/d). As global LNG demand and import capacity expand next year, EIA expects U.S. LNG imports to show little year-over-year growth in 2011. ” Quoted from the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Does the US have an unlimited supply of inexpensive natural gas from shale that will be quickly produced or will the resource be produced more slowly and sold for higher prices? An essay in the Financial Times explores this question.

Range Resources reports a third quarter net loss of nearly $30 million even though their natural gas production levels broke a company record. The problem: low gas prices.

Much of the energy potential of the Arctic is based upon natural gas and natural gas liquids. As the shale plays in the United States and other parts of the world are developed they reduce the incentive for energy companies to tackle the challenging environment of the Arctic. From an EIA report on Arctic Ocean oil and gas potential.

The success of the shale gas plays has produced an enormous supply of natural gas in many parts of the world. Which companies will benefit from this and which will not? Jim Jubak explains that the answer depends upon the types of service they provide and their geographic location.

Jim Jubak, financial columnist at MSN Money wrote an article titled… “Has Natural Gas Hit Bottom? Not Yet!“… He believes that there is a huge oversupply and that gas companies are producing at high levels to pay debt and maintain earnings.

Natural gas producers have developed such a large production capacity and a deep resource base that the market now has an enormous overhang of natural gas that could take years to work off. More in an article at Bloomberg.com.

An article in the online edition of Barrons discusses the current build up in natural gas production capacity and how it is putting downward pressures on natural gas prices. As production from shales increases there is less opportunity for hurricanes to influence natural gas prices.

A blog post on the Wall Street Journal website explains how an excess of production over current consumption might lead to the widespread shutting in of natural gas wells until the winter heating season begins.

The 11th annual Unconventional Gas Conference will be begin on Wednesday November 18th at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. More details from the Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas.

Exxon Mobil has a lot of cash held in reserve and some energy analysts believe that that money will be used for an acquisition while the stock prices of many oil and natural gas companies are down.  An article at CNN Money speculates that Chesapeake Energy might be a target.