U.S. shale player ONEOK Partners announced good earnings in the third quarter and anticipates future growth in its natural gas volumes.

"Earnings growth continued in the third quarter as natural gas liquids and natural gas volumes increased in our highest-margin areas," President and Chief Executive Officer Terry K. Spencer said in a statement.

The partnership draws heavily from operations in the Northern Plains states, including the Williston shale basin in North Dakota, which includes parts of the Bakken reserve area.

ONEOK, which has headquarters in Oklahoma, reported $82.2 million in third-quarter income, up 27 percent from third quarter 2014. Sales of $1.9 billion represented a 38 percent decline from the previous year.

Spencer said gas volumes should increase moving forward into the fourth quarter and into 2016 as a series of new pipeline systems in the region enter into operations. In a year, the company said it aims to open at least 40 miles of new pipelines and expand existing pipeline infrastructure in the Bakken reserve area, all of which represents at least $190 million in capital growth projects.

"Additionally, we've connected more than 720 new wells through the third quarter, and we expect to connect approximately 825 wells by the end of 2015," Spencer said.

Weak economics as a result of lower crude oil and natural gas prices took their toll on the company in early 2014 when it announced it was suspending spending plans for natural gas processing plants in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

U.S. shale leader Range sells Virginia shale assets for $876M
Fort Worth, Texas (UPI) Nov 4, 2015 - U.S. shale leader Range Resources said it was selling off its holdings in Virginia to bring value forward at a time when the industry is in a downturn.

Range said it was selling off its holdings in the Nora basin in southwestern Virginia, where the company held about 460,000 net acres and operated around 3,500 wells.

"While these are great assets operated by a talented team, bringing the value forward through a sale was the best decision for our shareholders," Range Resources top executive Jeff Ventura said in a statement.

The company said it produced around 109 million cubic feet per day from its Nora assets, which represented about 7.5 percent of its total output for the third quarter. Range said the sale to an undisclosed buyer for $876 million would reduce its total debt burden by about 24 percent.

Ventura said his company would assess its holdings as it moves forward in an era where low oil and natural gas prices are hurting corporate profits. Betting would continue, meanwhile, on output from the key Utica and Marcellus shale basins in the eastern United States.

"We believe that Range can continue to drive down costs, improve capital efficiencies and enhance netback pricing in our core Marcellus areas, all of which should further enhance our results in 2016," he said.

In early 2015, Range, which has headquarters in Texas, trimmed its capital budget from $1.3 billion to $870 million in response to "the continuing erosion in commodity prices."

A research note this week from Fitch Ratings said wholesale natural gas prices is impacting operators in once-lucrative shale basins in the United States, where in the Marcellus basin in the eastern United States, several producers are lowering their production expectations because of lower prices.