Barnett Shale

Quicksilver posts $318 million in earnings

Quicksilver Resources, aided by a $473 million gain from the sale of its interest in Quicksilver Gas Services, reported a net income of $318.3 million, or $1.77 a share, on revenues of $239.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

The full Star-Telegram report is here.

--Jack Z. Smith

Range selling Barnett properties for $900 million

Range Resources Corp. is selling almost all its properties in North Texas' Barnett Shale for $900 million to an unnamed private company. The sale is expected to close in late April.

See full Star-Telegram report here.

--Jack Z. Smith

Boone Pickens vs. Josh Fox of "Gasland"?

It seems that hydraulic fracturing--aka "fracking"--increasingly is becoming part of the national conversation. Energy lobbyist Frank Maisano, known for his regular e-mails to those interested in energy issues in Washington, D.C., began today's mail thusly:

"So tired from a weekend of lacrosse tryouts and field hockey tournaments that I couldn't stay up through the Oscars last night...or maybe it was just the terrible hosts that put me to sleep. It looked like James Franco might have been sampling some fracking fluids prior to the show last night."

Last night's Oscar awards had special interest for the natural gas industry. There no doubt were a number of industry people, ranging from CEOs to toolpushers, who were delighted to see that the controversial "Gasland," a highly critical look at natural gas drilling and fracking, failed to win in the feature documentary category.

In this blog posting today, political commentator Andrew Schenkel suggested that a debate between natural gas advocate Boone Pickens and "Gasland" creator, director and narrator Josh Fox might be an interesting next step in the debate over gas drilling and fracking. Fox wants to debate the Dallas billionaire, Schenkel wrote.

--Jack Z. Smith 

Local gas prices jump another 7 cents

Fort Worth-Arlington area gasoline prices climbed another seven cents a gallon over the weekend.

The average price of a gallon of regular, the cheapest and most heavily consumed grade, increased from $3.16 on Friday to $3.23, a seven-cent rise, according to a report today by auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

The price for regular has soared 22 cents in just a week, 32 cents in a month and 65 cents from a year ago.

Fort Worth-Arlington area prices for other fuel grades are mid-grade, $3.38; premium, $3.52; and diesel, $3.60.

The average statewide price for regular in Texas is $3.24, while the U.S. average is 13 cents higher, at $3.37, according to today's report.

Nationally, some fuel prices are exceeding $4 a gallon. The average price for diesel has skyrockted to $4.18 in Hawaii and $4.08 in California. The average for premium gasoline is $3.96 in California, $3.87 in Hawaii and $3.85 in Alaska.

--Jack Z. Smith

Oil and gas firms juice downtown FW leasing

Energy firms, many of them with ties to North Texas' Barnett Shale, are giving office leasing in downtown Fort Worth a needed shot in the arm.

See full Star-Telegram story here.

--Jack Z. Smith

Bombing damages big Iraq oil refinery

Iraq's largest refinery, about 100 miles north of Baghdad, was crippled by a predawn attack in which gunmen stormed the complex, killed an engineer and set off bombs. Security officials blamed the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, according to this New York Times report.

--Jack Z. Smith

Black gold could leave airlines seeing red

Soaring prices for crude oil, aka "black gold," could mean red-ink financial showings for airlines. See the full Star-Telegram report here.

--Jack Z. Smith

Gas lease renewals in southwest Arlington

Word in the southwest Arlington area around Lake Arlington Baptist Church (roughly along Little Road, between Arkansas and Mayfield) is that homeowners are receiving lease renewal bonus checks from Chesapeake Energ, giving the company two more years to drill on that turf. The company's previous three-year lease, providing a bonus of $22,000 an acre, was negotiated, signed and paid for in April 2008.

- Bob Cox

Local pump prices climb another 6 cents

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the Fort Worth-Arlington area has soared to $3.16, according to a report today by auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

That's a six-cent jump in a single day. The average price for regular has climbed 22 cents in just a month and is 62 cents higher than a year ago.

Of course, regular is the cheapest grade. Here are the averages reported today for three other grades in the Fort Worth-Arlington area: mid-grade, $3.30; premium, $3.43; and diesel, $3.50.

The average price for regular in Texas is $3.16, the same as the Fort Worth-Arlington norm.

The average U.S. price for regular is $3.29, according to today's report, representing another six-cent rise from a day earlier.

Some higher-priced grades are above $4 a gallon in limited areas. The average price for the cheaper regular has skyrocketed to $3.76 in Hawaii; $3.67 in Alaska; $3.66 in California; and $3.50 in New York.

--Jack Z. Smith  

Tipping point for oil prices

Most economists think that today's crude oil prices, while high by historical standards, are not high enough to completely derail the economic recovery. But if prices go much higher, all bets are off, according to this New York Times report.

--Jack Z. Smith