Factors

Those wondering about future natural gas burn by power utilities — how much and when — should look to three factors for insight: renewable generation growth, coal-fired plant retirements, and revisions to federal air emissions regulations, analysts at Bernstein Research said in a note.

Almost half of the drilling in the U.S. onshore now is being done on multi-well pads, further moving attention from the rig and well count and more to horizontal footage drilled and the number of fractured stages per well, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.

Calling it a “rebirth” for combined-cycle plants, Calpine Corp. CEO Jack Fusco said Wednesday that natural gas-fired capacity factors are rising in the electric generation sector, but power prices must also rise to encourage the building of more replacement capacity.

Colorado on Monday established new mandatory water sampling requirements for oil and natural gas drilling drawing criticism from industry and environmental groups. Sampling of multiple water wells before and after drilling is now required.

Currently growing inventories of ethane and propane are due to different factors and won’t continue forever, Enterprise Products Partners LP COO Jim Teague said last Wednesday. Longer-term, the company remains bullish on the natural gas liquids (NGL) demand story in the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.

Currently growing inventories of ethane and propane are due to different factors and won’t continue forever, Enterprise Products Partners LP COO Jim Teague said Wednesday. Longer-term, the company remains bullish on the natural gas liquids (NGL) demand story in the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.

Switching from coal- to gas-fired power generation has been more modest than many market watchers believe due to a variety of factors that distort the picture; however, in the years ahead, gas will continue to gain share in the power generation market as more gas-fired plants are built, according to an analysis by FBR Capital Markets.

Switching from coal- to gas-fired power generation has been more modest than many market watchers believe due to a variety of factors that distort the picture; however, in the years ahead, gas will continue to gain share in the power generation market as more gas-fired plants are built, according to an analysis by FBR Capital Markets.

Both cash and futures advanced Monday as cash traders reacted to a variety of factors ranging from somewhat cooler weather to nuclear outages. Futures advanced primarily on short-covering and revised weather forecasts, but traders are skeptical the gains will last. At the close March had gained 5.1 cents to $2.550 and April had risen 6.1 cents to $2.738. March crude oil fell 93 cents to $96.91/bbl.