Chesapeake Energy Corp. continues to add to its natural gas liquids (NGL) and crude oil investments as well as new shale plays, as the company announced it had reached an agreement to acquire acreage from several parties in the fourth quarter of 2010.

“The natural gas industry is making a real contribution to our economy by creating jobs in an economy that is suffering from rather high rates of unemployment,” Timothy J. Considine, professor of energy economics at the University of Wyoming, said earlier this month at Hart Energy Publishing’s DUG East conference in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Shales are great, and the Marcellus is the best," said Joe Gladbach, managing director, Jefferies & Co. Inc., at DUG East 2010. "How do we know? We've financed a lot of them." Currently, shales offer the best opportunities for investment worldwide. "It's no wonder that large international firms are drawn to the shales," he said. Like flies to honey, foreign oil companies have pledged more than US$23 billion to North American shale development in the past two years.

Frac spread margins for natural gas liquids largely told two different tales between Conway and Mont Belvieu in the month of October with margins at Conway mostly down and Mont Belvieu margins up across the board.

Byron Kelley announced his retirement as president and CEO of Regency Energy Partners, effective November 22. The company named Michael J. Bradley, CEO of Matrix Service Co., and an independent director at Regency since January 2008 as his replacement. Kelley will serve as a consultant to Regency for the next three years

The November 2 midterm elections saw Republicans storm back into power in the U.S. House of Representatives and reduce the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate – altering the direction of several legislative issues through the appointment of new leadership in House committees – and making it more difficult for the Democrats to gain the 60 votes needed for cloture.

Keyera Facilities Income Fund signed a letter of intent to fully acquire the Simonette natural gas processing plant along with its related gathering assets for C$82 million (US$81.1 million).

Increased natural gas feedstock prices as well as reduced natural gas liquids (NGL) prices resulted in a mixed bag for frac spread margins with lighter NGLs experiencing reductions in their margins while some heavy NGLs saw slight upticks in their margins.