Drastic

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.

Following 30 years of declining oil output in the Lower 48 states, the United States now is well on its way to becoming energy independent — a structural supply shift that promises to reach well beyond oil and natural gas stocks, analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said in a note Monday.

Widely expected, potentially drastic shrinkage of Canadian supplies as a factor in the international natural gas market is still only a forecast on paper instead of the reality in the pipelines, according to records of Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB).

Widely expected, potentially drastic shrinkage of Canadian supplies as a factor in the international natural gas market is still only a forecast on paper instead of the reality in the pipelines, according to records of Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB).

Tight credit markets and uncertain forecasts for 2009 led more oil and natural gas producers last week to announce drastic reductions in their 2009 capital expenditure (capex) plans. That is, except for a notable exception: Southwestern Energy Co.

Unless there is a drastic turn in the weather in the closing days of the year, 2007 will be one of the 10 warmest years the contiguous United States has experienced since national records began in 1895, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center. The global surface temperature for 2007 is expected to be the fifth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880, NOAA said.

Unless there is a drastic turn in the weather in the closing days of the year, 2007 will be one of the 10 warmest years the contiguous United States has experienced since national records began in 1895, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center. The global surface temperature for 2007 is expected to be the fifth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880, NOAA said.

The fact that major Wall Street investment companies are forecasting a drastic drop-off in oil and natural gas prices in the second half of the decade, a drop-off that is not reflected in NYMEX futures, could create a stock market buying opportunity, Houston analyst John Olson told GasMart attendees in Denver Wednesday.

The drastic moves announced during a conference call is part of the continuing fallout from Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy, a lack of investor confidence and the recession. In Enron’s wake, merchant energy companies have been especially hard hit, with their stock prices plummeting and bond ratings dropping. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded $4.9 billion of Mirant’s debt to junk late on Wednesday.