Pastures

In some cases operators just aren’t drilling and in others they are leaving the state for greener pastures as 2012 continued to be another year for declining natural gas production in Northwest New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, according to the latest state statistics that showed the region produced 780 Bcf last year.

While American gas producers have bought into less picked-over pastures than their home United States with their Canadian acquisitions, they have joined a community that faces an increasingly uphill scramble to maintain its productivity. A signal that western Canada has turned a corner, from frontier prospecting days to mature exploitation of familiar territory, surfaced in evidence submitted to the National Energy Board by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. to support its “fair-return” application for a financial overhaul and increased shipping tolls.

While American gas producers have bought into less picked-over pastures than their home United States with their Canadian acquisitions, they have joined a community that faces an increasingly uphill scramble to maintain its productivity. A signal that western Canada has turned a corner, from frontier prospecting days to mature exploitation of familiar territory, surfaced in evidence submitted to the National Energy Board by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. to support its “fair-return” application for a financial overhaul and increased shipping tolls.