Andrew joined NGI in 2018 to support coverage of Mexico’s newly liberalized oil and gas sector, and his role has since expanded to include the rest of North America. Before joining NGI, Andrew covered Latin America’s hydrocarbon and electric power industries from 2014 to 2018 for Business News Americas in Santiago, Chile. He speaks fluent Spanish, and holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communications from the University of Minnesota.
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Articles from Andrew Baker
Texas Hits Record Natural Gas, Oil Production Despite Sharply Lower Prices
Texas achieved record natural gas and oil production in 2023 despite lower prices for both commodities, falling rig counts, and fewer drilling permits issued versus 2022, said the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The group, which represents the state’s independent exploration and production (E&P) firms, said its Texas Petro Index (TPI) fell in December for…
February 6, 2024
Presidential Hopeful Gálvez Calls for Level Playing Field in Mexico’s Energy Sector
Mexican presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez on Monday applauded a recent Supreme Court ruling that invalidated one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s most controversial energy policies. Mexico’s high court deemed unconstitutional a set of modifications to Mexico’s electricity industry law (LIE) that sought to prioritize the dispatch of electricity from power plants owned by state…
February 5, 2024
Mexico Natural Gas Production Hits Highest Level Under AMLO, Though Still Outpaced by Imports
Mexico’s natural gas production averaged 4.3 Bcf/d in 2023, the highest full-year figure since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aka AMLO, took office in December 2018. The amount was up from 4.09 Bcf/d recorded in 2022, and 3.81 Bcf/d in 2019, data from upstream regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) show. Crude oil production, meanwhile,…
January 31, 2024
China Seen Driving LNG Demand Growth Amid Various Supply Constraints
Global natural gas demand is set to rise by 2.5% or 100 billion cubic meters (Bcm) in 2024 versus 2023, likely accompanied by increased price volatility, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This compares to a demand increase of 0.5% recorded in 2023, the global energy watchdog said in its latest quarterly Gas Market…
January 31, 2024
Drilling Permits on the Uptick in Lower 48 Natural Gas Plays
Drilling permits in the natural gas-rich Marcellus, Utica and Haynesville shale plays showed strong month/month growth in December 2023 but remained 16% below the December 2022 total, according to the latest tally by Evercore ISI. The three formations, which together supply about 53% of Lower 48 gas output, had a combined issued permit count of…
January 30, 2024
Natural Gas M&A Uptick Said Likely Following Oil-Focused Deal Spree
Upstream mergers and acquisitions (M&A) had a banner year in 2023 in the oil and gas sector, with dealmaking reaching a whopping $192 billion total, according to the latest quarterly tally by Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR). While only $6 billion of those transactions were focused on natural gas, versus $186 billion in deals targeting crude…
January 26, 2024
Associated Natural Gas a Gift – and a Curse – for North Dakota Oil Producers
North Dakota energy regulators expect a modest uptick in Bakken Shale oil production this year, though challenges persist around managing the immense volumes of liquids-rich natural gas extracted as a byproduct. A case in point was the deep freeze on Wednesday (Jan. 17), which shut in about 700,000 b/d of oil and 2 Bcf/d of…
January 22, 2024
OFS Jobs in U.S. Dip Slightly, but Outlook Said Healthy
Oilfield services (OFS) employment in the United States slowed a bit in December versus November, dropping by 941 jobs, according to an analysis of government data by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. The trade association represents more than 650,000 U.S. jobs in the energy value chain. During the month, job availability across the sector…
January 19, 2024
How Does the EPA Methane Fee Affect Natural Gas and Oil Companies?
Oil and natural gas industry groups expressed disappointment with a long-anticipated proposal published this month by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to place a fee on excess methane emissions from large oil and gas operations. The waste emissions charge (WEC) or methane fee is mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, President Biden’s…
January 18, 2024
Canada’s Tourmaline Touts JKM, TTF Exposure in Supply Deals with Trafigura
Canada’s largest natural gas producer, Tourmaline Oil Corp., said it has increased its exposure to global LNG pricing through two agreements to supply gas to units of commodity trading giant Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. The first deal is a netback agreement linked to the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM). The deal is based on 62,500 MMBtu/d, or…
January 17, 2024