Produce

Heat levels forecast for Wednesday are rising by sufficient amounts in enough areas to produce rising prices at most points Tuesday. July futures continued to buck the trend by dropping another 6.3 cents Tuesday.

With increased natural gas drilling just not getting the job done any more in North America, the energy industry will have to rely on increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports along with renewable sources of energy in order to close the ever-widening supply/demand gap, according to Ken Snodgrass, senior vice president of Shell Trading Gas and Power/Coral Energy.

With prospects rapidly improving to produce and transport oil and natural gas from the deepwater, energy companies are expected to spend between $3.4-5 billion on subsea processing systems worldwide between now and 2015, according to a joint study conducted by energy analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd. and technology specialists OTM Consulting.

Shell Offshore Inc. last week unveiled plans to develop an ultra-deepwater production hub in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to produce and pipe oil and natural gas from three huge discoveries: the Great White, Tobago and Silvertip fields in the Alaminos Canyon of the promising Lower Tertiary trend. Shell, as operator, envisions using a spar facility moored in 8,000 feet of water that would be capable of pumping 200 MMcf/d of gas and 100,000 bbl/d of oil, or about 130,000 boe/d.

Shell Offshore Inc. on Thursday unveiled plans to develop an ultra-deepwater production hub in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to produce and pipe oil and natural gas from three huge discoveries: the Great White, Tobago and Silvertip fields in the Alaminos Canyon of the promising Lower Tertiary trend. Shell, as operator, envisions using a spar facility moored in 8,000 feet of water that would be capable of pumping 200 MMcf/d of gas and 100,000 bbl/d of oil, or about 130,000 boe/d.

As the downfall of Amaranth Advisors LLC continues to produce more questions than answers, Robert McCullough, manager of McCullough Research, said Tuesday that he believes Amaranth trader Brian Hunter quite possibly attempted to corner the natural gas market and that the “lack of federal oversight” of energy markets and hedge funds by FERC, the CFTC and the SEC helped him almost accomplish his goal.

Every year Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf producers drill deeper holes to produce less gas from reserves that deplete faster. And then Mother Nature gives them a whupping (or several) during hurricane season.

Questar Corp. said Tuesday a ruling by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will allow it to produce an additional 8 Bcf of gas next year from its Pinedale Anticline leasehold in western Wyoming. That’s enough gas to heat about 96,000 average American homes for one year.

All of the focus has been on supplying U.S. markets, but Mexico, with growing energy demands of its own, is reviewing proposals to import and produce liquefied natural gas (LNG). Mexico is said to be close to finalizing an agreement with a group of energy companies to supply the country with 630 MMcf/d for up to 18 years.