2006

Upstream capital spending is pegged to jump a healthy 20% this year versus 2006. However, with most of the money earmarked for international oil projects, North American exploration and production (E&P) companies weighted to natural gas are not expected to deliver over-the-top earnings through the rest of the year, according to several energy analysts.

The domestic natural gas resource base has grown nearly 17% over the past two years, with an estimated 1,525 Tcf of total gas resources reported at year-end 2006 — the equivalent of 82 years of production at current rates, according to a biennial report on technically-recoverable long-range gas supplies released last Thursday.

The domestic natural gas resource base has grown nearly 17% over the past two years, with an estimated 1,525 Tcf of total gas resources reported at year-end 2006 — the equivalent of 82 years of production at current rates, according to a biennial report on long-range gas supplies released Thursday.

WestPac LNG Corp. of Calgary has shelved its plans for a terminal in Prince Rupert, BC (see NGI, June 12, 2006), opting instead for a more economic C$2 billion combined liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and gas-fired 600 MW power plant, the company said last week in Vancouver.

U.S. natural gas production decreased a modest 0.2% sequentially in the first quarter from the final three months of 2006, suggesting that gas supplies are stabilizing, according to a survey by energy analysts with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey/the Gerdes Group.

Despite a dearth of hurricane activity in 2006, speakers on a storm preparedness panel at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston last week still had plenty to talk about. After all, the industry remains on the mend from the momentous 2005 hurricane season and digesting the lessons learned from the one-two punch of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Despite a dearth of hurricane activity in 2006, speakers on a storm preparedness panel at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston Tuesday still had plenty to talk about. After all, the industry remains on the mend from the momentous 2005 hurricane season and digesting the lessons learned from the one-two punch of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

XTO Energy Inc. reported that its natural gas-weighted production in the first three months of the year jumped 10% from a comparable period in 2006 to 1.602 Bcfe/d from 1.460 Bcfe/d, powered by its leasehold in the Barnett Shale. The Fort Worth-based independent expects to sustain at least 10% production growth through the year, executives said.

In a retreat from the record profits of a year ago, BP plc reported Tuesday that 1Q2007 profit fell 17% from the same period in 2006 on falling energy prices and lower oil and natural gas production. Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy), the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, reported a 1.5% decline in profit.