Cycle

As exploration and production (E&P) companies cut back spending in order to stay afloat in a low commodity price environment, the downturn has many oil and gas states feeling the budget squeeze as well.

The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) has ratified and will file with FERC a revised timeline for natural gas nomination cycles. And at the same time a splinter group of southwestern utilities has put together an alternative proposal, according to a Commission update issued Thursday on gas-electric coordination.

Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas-fueled power plants are the same whether they are fueled with gas from shale or conventional basins, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

With a flat U.S. horizontal rig count and a lower-priced backlog still to be worked through, the oilfield services sector didn’t have a lot of “classic” catalysts to propel them in 2Q2013, according to a preview by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

Utility developers planning combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects in the Marcellus and Utica shales are looking for a “power price appreciation” from excess natural gas, not growing demand, to ensure a fair return on their investments, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH).

Utility developers planning combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects in the Marcellus and Utica shales are looking for a “power price appreciation” from excess natural gas, not growing demand, to ensure a fair return on their investments, according to an analysis by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Inc. (TPH).

Energy industry efforts to reduce the amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) through recycling and other means have to be stepped up if unconventional resources are to grow as projected, according to Ceres, which runs an influential institutional investor coalition.

Merchant Energy Holdings LLC is holding a nonbinding open season through Feb. 20 for up to 8 Bcf of firm, high-deliverability, multi-cycle working gas storage capacity available April 1 at its ECGS facility in Logan County, CO, about 90 miles east of the Cheyenne Hub. ECGS began operation in April and is completing its second phase of expansion, which includes additional injection/withdrawal wells, gathering and processing facilities and gas compression. ECGS is connected with Trailblazer Pipeline and has access to other major pipelines at the Cheyenne Hub. Total injection and withdrawal capability after the expansion will be more than 200,000 Dth/d. For information, visit www.mehllc.com or contact Scott Smith, (713) 403-6472, ssmith@mehllc.com; or Kevin Legg, (720) 351-4004, klegg@mehllc.com.

The Permian Basin, as well as the Eagle Ford and Bakken shales, which today are considered the “big three” drivers of U.S. oil production, would remain economic at current costs if West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices were to fall to $65/bbl, according to an analysis by Raymond James & Associates Inc. In fact, 13 of 20 onshore oil plays evaluated would breakeven below $65 using current costs, said analysts.