Joaquin

One part of the U.S. economy that hasn’t been stopped by the pandemic is trucking of goods, and that goes for the alternative transportation fuel that powers many of the fleets.

Halting the decline of Mexican oil production won’t produce instant success, said Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell on Tuesday.

Mexico not only aims to conclude its Round 2 upstream auctions with one covering nonconventional sources, but energy officials now are eyeing a Round 3 that also would include one covering shale and tight resources before the end of 2018, according to the energy secretary.

In the first means assessment of unconventional, technically recoverable resources in California’s Monterey formation in the deepest parts of the San Joaquin Basin, federal geologists have determined it contains an estimated 27 Bcf of natural gas, 21 million bbl of oil and 1 million bbl of natural gas liquids, smaller than previous estimates.

Weekend and Monday physical natural gas plunged in Friday’s trading as almost nonexistent incremental demand prompted little interest in making three-day deals.

Amongst market bulls there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as weekly trading drew to a close Oct. 2. With the exception of a couple of New York market points, all actively traded locations followed by NGI endured double-digit losses. The NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average fell 21 cents to $2.20.

Physical natural gas for Friday delivery continued to cartwheel lower along with futures as a hat-trick of unsupportive weather forecasts, a weak power environment, and a hefty government inventory report relegated market bulls to the bench.

Vancouver, BC-based East West Petroleum Corp., an independent exploration/production (E&P) company, said Monday it has expanded its position in the southern San Joaquin Basin, about 20 miles south of Bakersfield, CA. It is one of three separate areas in the region where the company is active, including part of the Monterey Shale play.

Occidental Petroleum said nearly 280 MMcf/d of gas production remains shut in at Elk Hills, the former Naval Petroleum Reserve, north of Bakersfield, CA, in the San Joaquin Valley because of a gas pipeline rupture, explosion and fire last Tuesday.