natural gas prices

Texas’s tax rate reduction program for “high-cost” natural gas wells may not be as generous as those provided by other states, and the shift in exploration from natural gas in the Barnett Shale to oil in the Eagle Ford Shale could also be making the incentive less relevant, according to areport by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Little has changed for Eclipse Resources Corp. since it reported third quarter production in October (see Shale Daily,Oct. 30). The company repeated during a recent earnings call that third quarter volumes slightly exceeded guidance at 85.8 MMcfe/d for a sequential increase of 104%. The Utica Shale pure-play went public in June. The company completed 17 gross Utica wells and placed 13 of them into sales last quarter. To date, Eclipse has drilled 51 operated wells in the play and plans to keep running three rigs in Ohio for the foreseeable future. Wells Fargo Securities analysts noted, however, that “infrastructure continues to be an issue” across the company’s Utica footprint. Average realized gas prices last quarter were just $2.78/Mcf, a $1.17 negative differential to the Henry Hub average during the period. The company was able to narrow its losses on more production, however, reporting a third quarter net loss of $19.1 million (minus 12 cents/share), compared to $113 million loss (minus 84 cents) in the second quarter.

December natural gas is set to open 4cents lower Thursday morning at $4.15 as traders see the market within a consolidation range. Market watchers were also given an extra day to hone inventory estimates. Overnight oil markets continued to sink.

Next-day gas was flat in Thursday’s trading as gains of more than $2.00 at some New England points, along with solid advances in the Mid-Atlantic, were able to counter broad weakness in the Marcellus, Gulf, Midwest, Rockies and California.

The Obama administration on Wednesday declared as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) the Gunnison sage grouse, kicking off the prospect of likely legal challenges and posing potential problems for oil and natural gas development in parts of Utah and Colorado.

Onshore independent Halcon Resources Corp. is slashing its capital budget and will drop almost half of its rigs in 2015, but production year/year still will jump by 15-20%, CEO Floyd Wilson said Tuesday.

Onshore operators have been pumping millions of pounds of sand and ceramic proppants into their fractures (fracks) at a furious pace this year to improve estimated ultimate recoveries (EUR) from new wells and recompletions, a pace that suppliers don’t see slowing down going into 2015.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has received approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to add state-level data from 10 states, including some of the most shale-rich names in its current “Other States” category, to its monthly natural gas production survey.

Encana Corp.’s strategic decision last year to balance its weighty natural gas portfolio with more liquids-rich assets propelled profits in the third quarter and enabled the independent to hit targets two years ahead of schedule, CEO Doug Suttles said Wednesday.