The Marcellus shale formation is estimated to hold roughly 500 trillion recoverable cubic feet of natural gas. And industry leaders expect you might be surprised at just how far that amount of natural gas can go.

For some perspective, consider that the United States now consumes about 63 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That means the Marcellus find alone could equate to a 20-plus year supply of U.S. natural gas consumption. Read more »

Oil fell below $91 per barrel Friday June 24, 2011 as investors weighed the latest economic data and the planned release of 60 million barrels of oil onto the world market.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose 9 cents at $91.11 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude, which is used in more international blends, fell $1.76 to $105.50 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Read more »

The smallest of the half-dozen class-action lawsuit over natural gas royalties was settled Wednesday June 22, 2011 for $3.4 million, to be split among some 1,850 landowners.

The settlement is the first resolution in the sprawling, ongoing fights in U.S. District Court over gas pumped out from under Southwest Virginia landowners and, according to the plaintiffs, never appropriately accounted for. Read more »

Oil prices rose Wednesday June 22. 2011 after the Federal Reserve acknowledged that U.S. economic growth has slowed but should pick up again soon. Here's how energy contracts traded.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange:

Crude rose $1.24 to settle at $95.41 per barrel.

Gasoline gained 9.07 cents to settle at $2.9733 a gallon.

Heating oil picked up 6.49 cents to settle at $2.9549 a gallon.

Natural gas fell 7.1 cents to settle at $4.317 per 1,000 cubic feet.

On the ICE Futures exchange: Read more »