natural gas prices

Henry Hub natural gas spot prices are likely to average $3.07/MMBtu this year and $3.48/MMBtu next year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), levels lower than anyone would have expected two years ago, but slightly higher than EIA’s previous forecast.

Throwing its hat into the lucrative energy derivatives arena with veterans Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and CME Group, Nasdaq said Wednesday it has established an energy futures market with the support of leading commodities participants.

Chevron Corp. has dropped some rigs in the Permian Basin this year; but, it’s not because of lower commodity prices. In fact, the operator is as enthusiastic as ever about the legacy play, where efficiencies in completions are leading to more production for the buck.

Downeast LNG Inc. (DELNG) has received authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy to export liquefied natural gas to free trade agreement (FTA) countries from its terminal proposed for Washington County, ME. Downeast also is seeking authority to export to non-FTA countries (see Daily GPI,Oct. 24, 2014). DELNG made its pre-filing request at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the Robbinston, ME, project last summer (see Daily GPI,July 23, 2014).

Next-day gas for Wednesday delivery was weaker in Tuesday’s trading, paced in large part by double-digit losses in New England. Small gains in the Gulf, Midcontinent, Midwest and Great Lakes were unable to counter Northeast declines, and overall the market fell 2 cents to $2.44.

Five days after announcing it was scuttling a proposed merger, Houston-based Dune Energy Inc. voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to request approval of $10 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its pre-bankruptcy lenders.

Larry Persily, former federal coordinator for Alaska natural gas pipeline projects, has accepted a position with the Kenai Peninsula Borough government in Alaska and has similar duties, including sharing information with the public about the Alaska LNG project and oil and gas issues in general. He will continue distribute his twice-a-week topical summaries in his new capacity. The update service will continue free of charge to readers. The news updates, formerly hosted by the federal coordinator’s office will now be hosted by the Kenai Peninsula Borough government. The federal coordinator’s office recently closed; it was eliminated by budget cuts in December (see Daily GPI,March 6).

Calgary-based Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. said its proved plus probable (2P) reserves grew 18% to 250 million boe at the end of 2014, as its annual production increased 74% — from 8.0 million boe at the end of 2013 to 13.9 million boe.

The collapse of oil prices has created headwinds for large liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction projects, but the developer of two smaller-scale projects on the Texas coast sees a silver lining in declining project costs and the advantages of a Henry Hub index. One of its projects is being up-sized, in fact.