(Adds outlook for gas versus coal in fifth paragraph, expected production increase in seventh paragraph.)

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., which pumps more oil than every member of OPEC except Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, is counting on natural gas to provide the bulk of its future growth.

Exxon, the world's second-largest company, plans to start 12 new gas and crude projects in the next two years, Mark Albers, a senior vice president at the Irving, Texas-based company, told analysts today in New York. Capital spending on wells, floating platforms, gas-export plants and refineries will rise 3.4 percent this year to $28 billion.

Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Wednesday offshore drilling legislation intended to realize his goal of making Virginia the East Coast's energy superpower.

The bills supporting offshore oil and gas exploration and directing royalties from drilling back to Virginia each hinge on actions by the federal government and Congress.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce his decision soon whether the government will move forward with the sale of oil and gas leases in a triangular tract 50 miles off of the Virginia coast. The 2.9 million acres has an estimated 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Total S.A. (FP.FR, TOT) is acquiring natural gas shale positions in France, Denmark, Argentina and North Africa, an exploration and production executive for the fifth-largest integrated oil company in the world said Wednesday.

Last week, the company acquired prospective shale acreage in central France, said Patrick Pouyanne, senior vice president for strategy business development at Total. Total made a ...

The Energy Department on Tuesday released its monthly short-term energy outlook report. The following includes 2009 price data and 2010 price estimates for major energy sources, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Average 2009 price 2010 Estimate

West Texas Intermediate crude $61.66 per gallon $80.06 per gallon

Avg. regular pump price gasoline $2.35 per gallon $2.84 per gallon

On-highway retail diesel $2.46 per gallon $2.96 per gallon

HOUSTON-The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 23 this week to 1,396. Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 926 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 456 for oil. Fourteen were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 1,170.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 23 rigs, Colorado gained three, North Dakota gained two and Oklahoma and Pennsylvania each gained one. Louisiana lost 10 rigs, New Mexico lost two and California lost one. Alaska, Arkansas, West Virginia and Wyoming were unchanged.

* Deal to transport up to 2 bln cbm/yr from Marcellus Shale

* To deliver gas to New York City, New Jersey from 2013

OSLO, March 2 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas group Statoil (STL.OL) said on Tuesday it had entered into agreements to deliver natural gas produced in the Northern Marcellus shale gas area of Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York City areas.

The deals with Tennessee Gas Pipeline, a subsidiary of El Paso Corp (EP.N), and Texas Eastern Transmission, a subsidiary of Spectra Energy Corp (SE.N), ensures Statoil the right to transport up to 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year, it said.

CALGARY, Alberta - South Korea's state-run gas company is making a $565 million Canadian ($543 million) investment in two northeastern British Columbia natural gas plays.

Korea Gas Corp. has signed a three-year deal with Calgary-based gas giant EnCana Corp. for a 50 percent interest in land blocks in the Montney and Horn River Basin shale formations.

EnCana spokesman Alan Boras said Monday the deal gives EnCana the opportunity to accelerate development faster than it would have otherwise.

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Enough natural gas to fill a professional basketball arena was vented into tight quarters shortly before an explosion at a Connecticut power plant that killed six workers, a federal safety investigator said Thursday.

Donald Holmstrom, of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, said the practice of cleaning pipes at the under-construction power plant, known as a "gas blow," put 400,000 cubic feet of gas into an area close to the plant's power block, and near many ignition sources.

Analysis A Silicon Valley startup backed by the rainmaker who got Google off the ground is about to formally announce a miraculous, shoebox-sized device capable of powering a house - "anywhere, with no emissions" according to the BBC.

Of course that's just Beeb Twitter-journalism twaddle, and the firm in question - Bloom Energy - makes no claim of zero emissions or freedom from infrastructure. But the firm's executives and backers do think that many people in future may choose to install a small "Bloom Box" in their home and use it to generate electricity from such fuels as natural gas and ethanol.

(Adds EPA comment in eighth paragraph.)

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. are among eight companies asked by lawmakers for data on chemicals used to get natural gas from shale in an inquiry into effects of the hydraulic fracturing process on the environment.

Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee, sent letters to the chief executive officers of the companies seeking information on the number of wells and amount of chemicals used. The panel announced the investigation in a statement today.

the flow of money into the exploration of the marcellus shale natural gas formation is continuing. japanese investment house mitsui & co. announced it is taking a $1.4 billion stake, or 32.5 percent, in anadarko petroleum corp.'s marcellus shale

(Updates prices in final paragraph.)

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- ConocoPhillips, BP Plc and Caterpillar Inc. won’t renew their memberships in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of companies and environmental groups seeking legislation to reduce greenhouse- gas emissions.

Proposals in the U.S. Congress “unfairly penalized” domestic refineries, ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said today in a statement. The role of natural gas in lowering greenhouse-gas emissions has been ignored, he said.

HELSINKI - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday downplayed environmental concerns about a planned gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, saying it would be a "safe and reliable" energy link for Europe. At a regional summit of Baltic Sea nations, Putin expressed surprise at the "emotional response" to the Nord Stream pipeline, which would carry 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas annually between Russia and Germany.

middletown, conn.-a worker who was in a connecticut power plant when it exploded on sunday tells the associated press there was a smell of natural gas in the plant less than an hour before the blast. paul gaskins was working on a steam turbine

stocks | regulatory news | bonds harrisburg, pennsylvania, feb 9 (reuters) - energy companies drilling for natural gas in pennsylvania's marcellus shale would have to pay a wellhead tax of more than 5 percent under a proposal unveiled on tuesday

blasts over the last decade connected to natural gas, a fuel increasingly being counted on to power the nation's energy future. the blast in middletown, conn. on sunday, which also injured at least a dozen people, happened as workers were purging gas

A massive gas explosion Sunday rocked a power plant under construction in Middletown, Conn., where more than 50 people were working, setting off tremors that were felt miles away. Early reports indicated that at least two people were killed and 12 injured, according to authorities.

Al Santostefano, the Middletown deputy fire marshal, said the explosion, at about 11:25 a.,m., occurred as workers at the nearly completed Kleen Energy Systems generating plant were trying to suck natural gas out of the plant's pipes, a procedure known as a 'blow down.' He said the explosion and the resulting fire was contained to a single building known as the Power Block.

HOUSTON-The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose by 18 this week to 1,335.

Baker Hughes Inc., based in Houston, said Friday that 878 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 445 for oil. Twelve were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 1,399.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Oklahoma and Texas each gained three rigs, New Mexico and West Virginia each gained two, and Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota and Wyoming each gained one. Alaska, California and Pennsylvania were unchanged.

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which rivals BP PLC as Europe's largest oil company, on Thursday reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings due to a weak refining business, and said it will freeze its dividend in 2010 and cut 1,000 more jobs.

Net profit was $1.96 billion, compared with a loss of $2.81 billion in the same period a year ago, when the company took a multibillion dollar writedown on the value of its inventory after a sharp fall in the price of oil.