Rocky

EOG Resources Inc.’s natural gas production inched up slightly in 3Q2007, but no thanks to the Rocky Mountains. In September and October the independent curtailed 50-140 MMcf/d net volumes “on any given day in the Rockies,” and EOG plans to shut in those same amounts through the first half of November, CEO Mark Papa said last week.

Most of the talk out of the Rocky Mountains recently has been about running natural gas pipelines west-to-east, but last week the talk turned around — for a few moments anyway. Kern River Gas Transmission launched an open season on Tuesday to carry more Rockies supplies to California markets, and Spectra Energy signaled it soon will launch an open season to gauge interest in carrying gas supplies to the California-Oregon border.

Most of the talk out of the Rocky Mountains recently has been about running natural gas pipelines west-to-east, but Spectra Energy’s announcement Thursday of plans to build a new Bronco Pipeline to under-served western markets, followed on another one just two days earlier of a proposed expansion and open season by Kern River Transmission of its pipeline to California.

EOG Resources Inc.’s natural gas production was up slightly in 3Q2007, but no thanks to the Rocky Mountains. In September and October the producer curtailed 50-140 MMcf/d net volumes “on any given day in the Rockies,” and EOG plans to shut in those same amounts through the first half of November, CEO Mark Papa said Tuesday.

Growing wellhead deliverability and flat-to-intermittent regional natural gas export capacity continue to bedevil Rocky Mountain producers, but it remains to be seen whether the Rockies Express (REX) Pipeline will turn out to be the “basis savior” some expect, an energy consultant said last week.

Growing wellhead deliverability and flat-to-intermittent regional natural gas export capacity continue to bedevil Rocky Mountain producers, but it remains to be seen whether the Rockies Express (REX) Pipeline will turn out to be the “basis savior” some expect, said Pace Global Energy Services.

With natural gas flow constraints out of the Rocky Mountains continuing to ease, the region once again dominated headlines on Monday as half of NGI’s points in the region recorded $1-plus gains. Despite near-record natural gas storage levels and the lack of any immediate storm threat to the Gulf of Mexico, cash prices across the board were firm to begin the week.

EOG Resources Inc. shut in about 50 MMcf/d of its net natural gas output in the Rocky Mountains through September and possibly October because of “extremely low prices,” the CEO said last week.

Natural gas and oil drilling on federal lands across the Rocky Mountains could increase by more than 160% over the next 20 years in part because of pro-industry regulations enacted during President Bush’s administration, according to a report by the Wilderness Society.