Crude

XTO Energy Inc. shattered earnings records and reported huge increases across the board for natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids production for the fourth quarter, the company said Wednesday. Natural gas production rose 24% to 916 MMcf/d, oil production jumped 161% to 33,494 bbl/d, and natural gas liquids (NGL) output hit a record 8,626 bbl/d, 32% higher than 4Q2003.

Nearly two-thirds of Pogo Producing Co.’s Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production, equaling 23,000 bbl/day of crude and 33 MMcf/d of natural gas, continues to be shut in as a result of recent hurricane-related damages, and the losses will affect output in the fourth quarter and possibly longer, the company said Tuesday.

With speculation on potential disruptions in global crude supplies driving spot and futures markets, Fitch Ratings last Monday raised its natural gas price deck to $5.75/Mcf this year and to $4.50 in 2005. Fitch also pushed oil higher, to $34/bbl this year and to $27 in 2005.

With speculation on potential disruptions in global crude supplies driving spot and futures markets, Fitch Ratings on Monday raised its natural gas price deck to $5.75/Mcf this year and to $4.50 in 2005. Fitch also pushed oil higher, to $34/bbl this year and to $27 in 2005.

Rising and falling almost in unison with oil over the past few months, natural gas futures continued the trend Tuesday as the June contract notched a new high of $6.40, before settling at $6.386 up 20.2 cents on the day. The June oil futures contract reached a high of $40.15 on Tuesday, trading at a level that has not been seen since late 1990. The contract closed up $1.13 at $40.06 over supply fears.

In concert with a fear-driven rally in the nearby crude oil pit, Nymex natural gas futures catapulted 37 cents higher Monday to $6.231, dragging most of the subservient natural gas cash market with it. Cash prices were up 5-20 cents on average across the board with some of the larger increases in the West where a spring heat wave was driving up demand.

Canadians are facing increasingly complex and difficult energy choices because of the country’s crude oil decline, flat natural gas production from the once prolific Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and increasing development of new non-traditional sources of supply, according to the 2003 annual report issued Tuesday by the National Energy Board (NEB).

Canadians are facing increasingly complex and difficult energy choices because of the country’s crude oil decline, flat natural gas production from the once prolific Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and increasing development of new non-traditional sources of supply, according to the 2003 annual report issued Tuesday by the National Energy Board (NEB).

A bearish storage report caused only a small “hitch in the git-along” for the futures market Thursday, as natural gas prices back-tracked for awhile and then shifted their focus to the oil market and surged ahead. While opinions remain mixed on the next price direction, it can be said that there are more bulls now than there were three weeks ago.