Credit

The story “For Gas Bulls, Bad News Comes First” (see Daily GPI, Nov. 23) quoted an incorrect price forecast from a Credit Suisse presentation slide. For 2009 the firm has cut its U.S. gas price forecast to $3.97 from $4.01.

The economic storm that has ravaged U.S. credit markets and driven down commodity prices could exacerbate the economic fallout of any hurricanes that bedevil the energy sector this year in the Gulf of Mexico, an executive with insurance firm Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. said last Thursday.

The economic storm that has ravaged U.S. credit markets and driven down commodity prices could exacerbate the economic fallout of any hurricanes that bedevil the energy sector this year in the Gulf of Mexico, an executive with insurance firm Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. said Thursday.

In less than a week, credit rating outlooks for several pre-paid long-term natural gas purchases by public-sector utilities and the billions of dollars of bonds supporting them turned more positive Tuesday as Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services translated an uptick in the outlook for a Merrill Lynch & Co. unit as cause to remove negative outlooks on the muni deals. Earlier in May S&P was giving all of the same deals a “negative” outlook.

While affirming the Iroquois Gas Transmission System LP’s credit ratings (“BBB+”) and positive outlook, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services noted it will keep an eye on the Northeast interstate natural gas pipeline’s shipper base and cash flow. If they waver S&P said it might consider changes in the ratings and outlook.

Some of the biggest natural gas producers in North America are doing what needs to be done to cope with low commodity prices and tight credit markets. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has dropped around 30% of its U.S. onshore rigs since the end of 2008, the company said last week. And XTO Energy Inc. is slicing $1 billion from its capital expenditures (capex) for 2009.

Tight credit markets and economy-driven demand destruction have forced U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies to lay down natural gas rigs at a faster clip than in previous down cycles, and the gas rig count may drop 65% from last year, energy analysts said Monday. Even cutting rigs by more than half, however, may not be enough to balance the oversupplied gas market by the end of the year.

Regardless of the causes and responses to the global credit crunch, natural gas prices are going to return to double-digit levels during the next 18 months, according to two industry economic experts speaking Tuesday at the LDC Forum Rockies & West Conference in Irvine, CA. The fact the the financial crisis is global in scope ultimately will help pull the world out of it quicker, and energy prices will be quick to rebound, they said.

Apache Corp.’s conservative spending strategy and solid credit rating proved a powerful tonic as the financial markets began to panic, CEO G. Steven Farris said last week.