Barclays

Pipeline capacity constraints in the crowded Permian Basin won’t lead to any sharp pullback but they have led to opportunities elsewhere in the U.S. onshore, many of the largest domestic producers said last week.

U.S. onshore well completions expert Keane Group Inc. joined Halliburton Co. this week in reducing third quarter forecasts on less demand than anticipated, with customer drilling efficiencies beginning to level off.

Barclays Capital analysts on Tuesday raised their Henry Hub natural gas price forecasts for the final six months on lower-than-expected storage back-up and the accelerated startup of two Gulf Coast gas export projects by Cheniere Energy Inc.

Even as Lower 48 natural gas production has reached record highs in recent days, strong power demand in the South Central region of the United States stands to challenge storage injections going into the peak summer period, according to Barclays Commodities Research.

After a four-year battle in a California federal court, FERC and Barclays Bank plc appear poised to settle a lawsuit over a $453 million penalty levied against the bank and four of its traders for alleged energy market manipulations between 2006 and 2008.

Because the Gulf Coast increasingly is the hub for natural gas exports and industrial demand, Hurricane Harvey may foretell what could occur in future natural disasters, according to Barclays Capital.

Almost a decade removed from the alleged energy market manipulations that spawned it, a $453 million FERC penalty against Barclays Bank plc and four of its energy traders remains unpaid and unresolved following a ruling last Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento.

With Sabine Pass Train 3 online and Train 4 poised to begin taking feedgas in the coming days, Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Louisiana liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal could be pulling 3 Bcf/d from the U.S. natural gas market by the second quarter, Barclays Research said in a note Wednesday.

Another warmer-than-usual winter has led Barclays to reduce its 2017 natural gas price forecast to $3.02/MMBtu from $3.38. The 2Q2017 forecast was slashed to $2.78 from $3.25.