Kevin Dobbs

Natural gas production in the Rockies, like the country overall, is at vigorous levels this fall even as demand from western markets eases. The result: stout supplies in storage and soft prices. Mountain region inventories were 23.5% higher than the five-year average as of Nov. 24, the most recent storage update from the Energy Information…

OPEC-plus, the consortium of major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia, agreed to a substantial production cut late last week that could bolster prices and fuel more demand for Permian Basin crude. This, by extension, could drive continued lofty levels of associated natural gas from the prolific basin. Associated gas, produced alongside oil, contributed to…

Natural gas cash prices spiked early in the past week amid a blast of frigid air. But milder temperatures settled in during the weekly trading period and strong production pushed the physical market into negative territory. NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 period shed 10.5 cents to $2.745. Conditions during…

Interruptions imposed by western wildfires last summer aside, natural gas production in Canada has often averaged around 18 Bcf/d or higher in 2023. That’s roughly 1 Bcf/d more than the 2022 standard, according to Canada Energy Regulator data, and it comes at a time when demand has largely held flat amid mild weather. The result:…

Record-warm ocean surface temperatures fueled above-average activity during the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. Still, the storms steered clear of the U.S. energy complex and made no lasting impact on natural gas production or prices. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report this week that 20 official storms emerged in the Atlantic…

The combination of relatively soft weather-driven demand and record production put the U.S. natural gas market on a path to price-pressuring oversupply well into 2024, a growing chorus of analysts cautioned in November. “We are bearish on U.S. natural gas,” Goldman Sachs Group’s Samantha Dart said bluntly. First things first: U.S. production reached record levels…

Counter to rig count trends over much of 2023, natural gas production in the Haynesville Shale proved robust through the first half of November and could continue to help drive strong overall output, according to East Daley Analytics.  Pipeline flows in Louisiana and East Texas averaged 13.2 Bcf/d through Nov. 16, marking a 300 MMcf/d…

Natural gas prices trended mostly higher during the first day of December bidweek trading on Wednesday even as production hovered near record levels, supplies in storage remained robust and weather-driven demand proved seasonally soft. NGI’s Bidweek Alert (BWA) showed upward momentum across several regions, with traders focused more on the winter ahead than the current…

CME Group, the derivatives marketplace that operates New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) Henry Hub natural gas futures, said its new micro trading platform for gas got off to a strong start this month. Micro Henry Hub futures launched Nov. 6 and, in the initial days, surpassed 50,000 contracts. These are one-tenth the size of the…