Hottest

As one of the hottest growing hydrocarbon areas in North America, North Dakota’s legislature has been immersed this year with various proposals to deal with oil and natural gas-related issues. So far, the stakeholders embroiled in the debate are not sure which, if any, bills will make it through the legislative meat grinder.

In the midst of one of the hottest summers on record nationally, high natural gas demand in the electric generation sector continues to dominate U.S. energy markets, but how much of this continues when temperatures cool in the fall will depend on the relative price of gas to coal and economic dispatch decisions by grid operators, according to RBN Energy LLC’s Sandy Fielden on the firm’s daily blog on Wednesday.

Spot prices continued to wither Wednesday due to a combination of relatively moderate temperatures in several regions around the midpoint of what is normally the hottest month of the year and further softness in prior-day futures. And despite continuing deficits of current storage compared to year-ago levels and the five-year average, traders appear unconcerned about inventories, especially with what was generally expected to be a very busy Atlantic hurricane season having little impact so far on Gulf of Mexico output.

Even with heat forecasts in most areas remaining on the seasonal to relatively mild side for the middle of one of the hottest months in the year, prices rose at nearly all locations Friday. Largely ignoring the usual weekend downturn of industrial demand, the cash market instead derived most of its strength from the previous day’s below-expectations storage injection report for the preceding week and the subsequent bullish reaction by futures traders.

Landmen headed for the Eagle Ford Shale, you’re too late. Engineers need to hurry. And beancounters, your day is coming. The Eagle Ford is the hottest thing in South Texas, but like the unconventional plays that came before, it too will have its seasons.

Landmen headed for the Eagle Ford Shale, you’re too late. Engineers need to hurry. And beancounters, your day is coming. The Eagle Ford is the hottest thing in South Texas, but like the unconventional plays that came before, it too will have its seasons.

There’s still a bit of room left to squeeze into the hottest gas play in the United States, says at least one Barnett Shale producer, as the play continues to boom in the Fort Worth Basin of North-Central Texas. Things have been so hot for so long now that it has some asking, where are the super-majors in all of this?

There’s still a bit of room left to squeeze into the hottest gas play in the United States, says at least one Barnett Shale producer, as the play continues to boom in the Fort Worth Basin of North-Central Texas. Things have been so hot for so long now that it has some asking, where are the super-majors in all of this?

The U.S. power system managed the second hottest July in 100 years quite well this year, but the slow-down in power plant construction and the length of time required to permit the large number of proposed coal-fired power plants could put the system at risk in a few years, according to a new report by energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.