Pretty

Apache Corp., which has been pretty quiet over the last year, on Thursday stepped into the spotlight, announcing it will spend $1 billion to acquire controlling interests in 28 oil and natural gas fields in the Permian Basin. The assets, purchased as part of a joint venture agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., are expected to produce 9,000 b/d of oil and 18 MMcf/d of natural gas net to Apache this year.

It’s hard to deny that market fundamentals are looking pretty bearish for the last half of December. Cash prices tumbled about 30-85 cents on Monday from weekend levels, depending on the location, except for a few unusual cases in the already-depressed Rockies where Questar posted a small gain.

Given what happened to the industry last year with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, it’s pretty easy to make a bull’s case for the natural gas market. In fact many industry prognosticators expect that once the current gas storage surplus is worked off, an underlying tight supply-demand balance will return, driving prices back into the stratosphere. But Stephen Thumb at consulting firm Energy Ventures Analysis in Arlington, VA, believes many experts are underestimating the impact that LNG will have on the U.S. market.

Given what happened to the industry last year with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, it’s pretty easy to make a bull’s case for the natural gas market. In fact many industry prognosticators expect that once the current gas storage surplus is worked off, an underlying tight supply-demand balance will return, driving prices back into the stratosphere. But Stephen Thumb at consulting firm Energy Ventures Analysis in Arlington, VA, believes many experts are underestimating the impact that LNG will have on the U.S. market.

The March aftermarket began Tuesday pretty much the same as February’s daily market ended — with sizeable losses across the board. Prospects for any significant recovery in cash prices are dim, with relatively light heating load for the foreseeable future, natural gas futures continuing to fall to levels not seen in nearly a year and abundant amounts of gas in storage — much of which must be used or go into the general market within the next month or so.

When you can lock in nearly three-quarters of your production at $9.43/MMBtu, that’s a pretty good deal, particularly when a mere three years ago you hedged 39% of your production at an average of $4.33/Mcf. Chesapeake Energy Corp. over the past month increased its hedge position, locking in an average Nymex price of $9.49/MMBtu for 721 Bcf of natural gas production over the next three years.

The weather forecast for July and August looks pretty bullish for natural gas and power prices, according to WSI Inc. Meteorologists at WSI are calling for warmer than normal weather in most regions of the country for both months, except for the North Central region in July — North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota should see colder than normal temperatures in July.

The weather forecast for July and August looks pretty bullish for natural gas and power prices, according to WSI Inc. Meteorologists at WSI are calling for warmer than normal weather in most regions of the country for both months, except for the North Central region in July — North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota should see colder than normal temperatures in July.

The gas market this year is shaping up to be a lot like the market last year and observers should expect a pretty big dip in prices this summer, according to Steve Thumb of consulting firm Energy Ventures Analysis Inc. (EVA) in Arlington, VA. Thumb said rising domestic supply will be the biggest difference in the market this year.