Archive for the ‘natural gas’ Category

The “bust” in Ohio’s Utica shale: a less pessimistic voice is heard

By John Kingston | May 22, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (3)

The release of Ohio’s 2012 production figures last week by the state hit the market with a thud, disappointing just about any analyst who checked in with their views. “Bust” was a commonly-heard theme about the Utica, supposedly the next-great US shale play.

So it took a few days, but there’s now an alternative voice, put forth by Sandy Fielden of our friends from RBN Energy. Fielden, in a just-released analysis, makes two points: it’s too early to get too worked up, and the Utica play is going to benefit from preparing for a rush of condensate production.

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Regulation & Environment: Australia’s coalseam-to-LNG companies stand up

By News Desk | May 20, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (1)

Companies looking to turn Australian coalseam gas into LNG for export are facing increasing resistance from environmental groups. In this week’s Regulation & Environment column in Oilgram News, Christine Forster discusses how producers are pushing back.

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More fun in Vermont: a natural gas pipeline project in the land of a fracking ban

By John Kingston | May 16, 2013 04:31 PM Comments (1)

The schizophrenic battles over natural gas in Vermont — a state that was the first to have its governor sign a permanent fracking ban – just keep coming.

At the heart of the latest issue is a plan by Vermont Gas, the state’s natural gas utility, to add a 41-mile extension to its existing 750 miles of natural gas pipelines in the state. The new line would extend service to Middlebury, home of Middlebury College. And that’s where Bill McKibben works.

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Shell tipped to take stake in InterOil’s Papua New Guinea LNG project

By Christine Forster | May 2, 2013 06:16 AM Comments (1)

Of the three oil and gas majors understood to be vying for a share of US-listed junior InterOil’s Gulf LNG project in Papua New Guinea, Shell is being tipped by some industry insiders as the bidder most likely to succeed.

The PNG government approved InterOil’s plans to develop the 3.8 million mt/year Gulf LNG project in November last year but has required that the company bring in a partner with a track record operating similar projects. At the same time the government said state-owned resources company Petromin would take a 50% stake in the onshore Elk and Antelope gas fields that will feed the LNG project.

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New Frontiers: OPEC, N. African oil producers seek out shale

By News Desk | April 29, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (0)

The shale boom has led to two developments: lots of hydrocarbon production in the US, and speculation about what countries will lead similar developments and at what pace. In this week’s Oilgram News column New Frontiers, Tamsin Carlisle reviews the plans of countries both in North Africa and the Middle East.

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A new gig for the former head of the IEA

By John Kingston | April 22, 2013 03:07 PM Comments (0)

The competition in academia for big names is always fierce. With universities focusing anew on energy, and new campus think tanks popping up, it’s becoming even more competitive. For example, the University of California-Davis last year lured Amy Myers Jaffe away from Rice University’s Baker Institute, where she had been almost since its founding.

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Qatar goes offshore to preserves global LNG dominance

By Tamsin Carlisle | April 18, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (0)

Qatar’s LNG development policy has been a matter of considerable international consternation. Why invest tens of billions of dollars to become the world’s leading exporter of the fuel, and then jeopardize that dominant market position by indefinitely extending a moratorium on most upstream gas development?

Research and consulting company Wood Mackenzie thinks it has the answer to that conundrum.

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The commodity super cycle: Citi declares it has come to an end

By John Kingston | April 13, 2013 04:31 PM Comments (4)

On a day when gold plummeted and oil dropped right alongside it, Citi Research was throwing dirt on the grave of the commodity super cycle.

The then-Goldman Sachs Commodity Index hit its bottom in early 1999 (it’s now the Standard & Poor’s GSCI), and the talk of a new commodity super cycle began soon after that. You’d hear frequently that the super cycle was going to last 15 years, or maybe 20. So it’s about 14 years old, and Citi Research’s Ed Morse, in a report released Friday, says it’s breathing its last. (Full disclosure: Standard & Poor’s, like Platts, are both owned by McGraw-Hill Financial.)

“The second quarter should provide another affirmation that the so-called commodity supercycle has finally ended and should usher in the first ‘normal’ year in over a decade in which, broadly, commodity prices end the year lower than when the year started,” Morse said in his report. The super cycle’s end has been building for several years, Morse said, noting a “Supercyle Funeral” that began in 2011. This year would be the “afterparty.”

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Europe’s spot hub natural gas prices overtake long-term contracts

By William Powell | April 9, 2013 06:21 PM Comments (0)

This winter has been a good one for Gazprom’s European export business. In a sense, it has been a good year almost every year lately, because its long-term gas is priced off oil, and oil has been above $100/barrel for long enough to make its gas absurdly expensive, especially when compared with coal.

But that has cost Gazprom good will. Its determination to extract the full contractual value, while the spot price has been stubbornly lower, has driven its customers into arbitration and into the arms of alternative, cheaper suppliers such as Norway’s export giant, Statoil. Its market share rose as Gazprom’s fell, as it took a more market-based approach to its pricing and moved more of its gas from oil and coal indexation on to hubs.

This year though the prolonged cold spell–culminating in the coldest March that the UK has seen for five decades – has tested the northwest European system to its limits. Spot prices have, as a result, hit six year highs for sustained lengths of time.

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Do rig counts tell us much about oil and natural gas supplies anymore?

By Samantha Santa Maria | April 5, 2013 01:40 PM Comments (4)

Consider the facts: Lower-48 gas production averaged at 72.1 Bcf/d in January, close to all-time highs, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Gas rigs, meanwhile, were at 14-year lows, averaging at 434 for the same month.

Simple answer to the question: Not if you’re trying to gauge supply, they’re not.

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