2021 Forecast

With natural gas projected to play a major role in the global energy mix for decades to come, the incoming Biden Administration would need to mitigate the fuel’s environmental impacts as much as possible in order to fulfill his climate agenda, the most ambitious of any U.S. president in history. As a result, the industry…

After a gut-wrenching 2020 in which bankruptcies, write-downs and historic losses consumed the oil and natural gas industry, the U.S. midstream sector is poised for a stable path to recovery in the year ahead, according to experts. Several key themes this year could shape the return to normal, including the pace of economic reopenings/demand recovery…

Increased domestic industrial energy use, coupled with strong and ongoing demand for U.S. exports, could more than offset a gradual rise in production and drive natural gas prices this year well above the level at which they finished a pandemic-plagued 2020, analysts and industry insiders say. Analysts at Raymond James and Associates Inc. estimated gas…

Mexico should expect higher natural gas prices in 2021 as coronavirus vaccines become available and global economies heat up following the pandemic-inspired slump of 2020. Even the Waha hub in West Texas, which saw wild pricing swings and went negative on numerous occasions in 2020, should see more stability and a reduced differential to Henry…

Most U.S. energy executives expect Henry Hub natural gas prices to average $2.40-2.79/Mcf by the end of 2021, but a solid number foresee prices of as much as $3.19, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The Dallas Fed, as it is better known, every quarter surveys executives of exploration and…

West Virginia’s leading oil and natural gas trade groups have merged in a sign of how the Appalachian Basin has changed in recent years. The merger between the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGA) and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association is set to take effect Jan. 1, when the…

The June midterm elections in Mexico, set to be the country’s largest single-day election in its history, could either stall or advance President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s state-centric energy sector platform. The election would see the entire lower house being voted in, as well as numerous gubernatorial, state legislature and mayoral races. Wins for his…

As 2020 draws to a close, the door remains closed for new exploration and production (E&P) contracts in Mexico’s oil and gas sector, with little visibility as to when they might resume. With bid rounds, farmout tenders and service contract migrations frozen until further notice by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, upstream activity will in…

According to company plans and Mexican government announcements, the vast majority of 2021 natural gas projects will be spearheaded by the state, or at least the state will play some role in their development. Meanwhile, most of the major natural gas pipelines launched thanks to Mexico’s 2013-2014 energy reform are complete, but a few delayed…