Abundant

The Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin may be the most hyped natural gas shale area of North America, but the Canadian Maritimes abundant rock could be the next new thing. Led by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, all four of Canada’s Atlantic provinces are seeing an upward trend in awarding onshore exploration rights, and even though the activity level is modest by comparison to the onshore activity in Western Canada, this emerging region is garnering considerable interest from small and large producers.

In trading for flows through the end of September, prices fell at all points Thursday as the continuing transition to seasonal autumn weather combined with abundant storage levels put further negative pressure on the cash market. The incorporation of the usual loss of industrial load over a weekend was another bearish influence, as was the absence of any near-term tropical storm threats to Gulf of Mexico production.

The adjectives used to describe the Barnett Shale play — “prolific,” “gas-rich,” “abundant” — may have, at times, seemed superfluous. But the simple language EOG Resources Inc. CEO Mark Papa used last week to describe his take on the Texas play may be the most descriptive: “bigger than we expected.”

Canadian business and government energy representatives assureda Washington audience last week that the immense Canadian reservesand strong market ties between the U.S. and Canada spell long-termsupply security for U.S. consumers.

Natural gas futures looked poised to continue to trend lowerlast Friday amid abundant physical supply and having justreestablished the downtrend that began on April 8th. However,weather forecasts calling for the warmest temperatures of thesummer and solid “bargain buying” in the cash market was enough tolift August 3.3 cents to settle at $2.165.