Gas prices have increased nearly 17 cents a gallon in the past week. And analysts expect prices to continue higher, following a sharp rise in the price of crude oil.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose 4.3 cents to $3.33, motorist group AAA said Saturday Feb.26, 2011. That marks the fourth day in a row that prices have risen, and brings the national average to the highest level since October 2008.

Gas prices were highest in Hawaii, where drivers paid $3.761 a gallon, on average. Wyoming had the lowest gas prices at roughly, $3.032 a gallon. Read more »

Chesapeake had announced earlier in February that it planned to sell the Fayetteville assets and raise as much as $5 billion.

The Chesapeake Energy asset sale plan comes after activist investor Carl Icahn had announced an interest of more than 5% in Chesapeake, setting off speculation that Icahn would pressure Chesapeake to unlock value in its shares by selling assets. Read more »

When a landowner finds or discovers natural gas deposits in the land that he owns the process of natural gas royalties begins. If the landowner does not have the financial resources to exploit these deposits himself then he could either sell the land to a company that specializes in this type of work or he could lease the land to a company that can come in, exploit the deposits and then the landowner would get paid royalty payments based upon the value and amount of natural gas removed. Read more »

Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest exploration company in the Fayetteville Shale play, said last week (Feb 7, 2011) that it plans to sell off $5 billion worth of assets in the region.

But why is Chesapeake getting out of the natural gas reserves so soon?

The news that Chesapeake Energy of Oklahoma city was putting its Fayetteville Shale assets up for sale didn't surprise many analysts. Read more »