Oil prices climbed Friday November 20, 2012 after Israeli troops fired on crowds in Gaza surging toward the border fence, killing one Palestinian.

Benchmark crude ended the trading day up 90 cents to $88.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent, which is used to price international varieties of oil, was up 83 cents to $111.38 a barrel. Read more »

The number of rigs operating in the Marcellus gas play declined, though production there increased 72 percent since last year, the U.S. government reports.

The U.S. Energy Department reports that the number of oil and natural gas rigs active in the Utica shale play in the northeastern United States has doubled.

The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Agency reports that year-on-year figures for October 2012 indicate rig activity in the play, spread out of the Appalachian Basin, has doubled. Read more »

Oil prices rose further Monday November 19, 2012 as violence between Israelis and Palestinians ignited fears that that the conflict could spread throughout the region.

In New York, oil prices rose roughly $2 to $89 a barrel a day after an Israeli airstrike killed 10 people in one home in the Gaza Strip. Crude prices are up roughly 4% since the fighting erupted early last week.

Analysts, who see the oil market as oversupplied, said the general tension in the region was the only thing pushing prices higher. Read more »

Decades ago, when few had heard of shale gas or fracking, major timber companies sold off enormous swaths of land in North Carolina. With a minor adjustment to the property deed, these companies retained the legal right to mine and drill hundreds of feet below the surface of the land they sold.

At the time, no one seemed to pay attention. Over the years the land changed hands and former woodlands bloomed into subdivisions and neighborhoods. Read more »