The November gas futures contract expired at $3.524, the lowest it has settled in the previous 12 months.  

The December gas futures contract is currently trading at $3.77, $0.16 lower than it settled yesterday. The 12 month strip is trading at $3.98/MMBtu and this year's winter strip (Dec 11 - Mar 12) is trading at $3.88/MMBtu.

Pipeline Expansions help relieve PA Producers

One of the major issues facing natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, has been building the pipeline infrastructure to keep up with the unprecedented growth in production.

Since just last week, four Northeast pipeline capacity expansions have gone into service, adding over 350,000 Mcf/day of additional capacity.

                              Marcellus Shale Projected Production thru 2020

With Marcellus Shale gas production currently over 2 Bcf/day and growing rapidly, one of the largest challenges facing natural gas producers going forward will be making sure pipeline capacity continues to keep up with production.

Job Boom in Williston, North Dakota

The energy industry continues to create jobs despite the current economic conditions facing the country.

Williston, North Dakota is currently booming with many well-paying jobs that require no experience. One student at Williston State College dropped out so he could earn $5,000 every two weeks (About $130,000 a year) just to boil the water used in hydraulic fracturing.

Interior to Require Disclosure of Fracking Fluids

This should come as no surprise, but the Interior Department plans to require fracking companies to publicly disclose the chemicals they use in their fracking fluids.

They would like to have the rules for the disclosure finalized within a year, but luckily for the drilling companies, a "protection for trade secrets" is expected to be included.

Regardless of which chemicals are used in the process, responsible fracking prevents any of them from reaching ground water, but informing the public of which chemicals are used will perhaps alleviate some of the skepticism they may have about the process.