Hedging

As attractive hedging positions begin to roll off in 2012 and 2013 for exploration and production (E&P) companies, particularly for natural gas, energy analysts will be keyed in to which companies add new hedges and at what prices, according to Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

As attractive hedging positions begin to roll off in 2012 and 2013 for exploration and production (E&P) companies, particularly for natural gas, energy analysts will be keyed in to which companies add new hedges and at what prices, according to Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

The Barnett Shale and Horn River Basin lifted Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. to a quarterly production record during the third quarter while the company continued to chip away at its substantial debt.

Devon Energy Corp., which took the prospective Barnett Shale and turned it into one for the ages, disclosed Wednesday that it has leased 250,000 net acres in the emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale of southwestern Mississippi/central Louisiana for a cost of around $180/acre.

The shale gas bonanza makes a strong case for the expanded use of commodity price management techniques, such as hedging and long-term contracts, a task force argues in a report released Monday.

Lower natural gas prices will have an effect on National Fuel Gas’ (NFG) bottom line in 2011, but the company will continue to ramp up its drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale during the year, CEO David F. Smith said during a conference call with financial analysts Friday.

Using the experience it gained in the unconventional gas fields of the Piceance Basin in Colorado, and the Montney and Horn River shale plays in British Columbia, Encana Corp. has begun to advance its “gas factory” approach in the Haynesville Shale, where it holds more than 430,000 net acres spread across Louisiana and East Texas.

A plethora of natural gas shale deposits, persistently high rig counts, hedging and available debt capacity have stifled domestic natural gas prices for possibly three years, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) said last week. Tradition Energy analysts also blamed “the poor prospect of economic growth in the second half of the year” in revising down its gas price forecast.

A plethora of natural gas shale deposits, persistently high rig counts, hedging and available debt capacity have stifled domestic natural gas prices for possibly three years, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) said Tuesday.