Slowing

Low natural gas liquids (NGL) prices have been weighing down the profitability of midstream processors, and slowing NGL demand is likely to pressure profitability in the near term, but the outlook is generally good further out, Fitch Ratings said in a recent note on NGLs and midstream processors.

A well count “evolution” is taking place across the United States because the “cost of opportunity of drilling shale gas is growing,” said Societe Generale analysts in a note to clients.

The shale gas industry contributed $76.8 billion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and supported more than 600,000 jobs in 2010, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to a report issued Wednesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF) at IHS CERAWeek 2012 in Houston.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is slowing the permitting process for oil and gas projects that disturb significant amounts of land.

Even in a period of slowing U.S. wind development, Spain-based Iberdrola Renewables announced that it will spend $6 billion in the United States for new and upgraded wind developments through the end of this year. Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Galan made the commitment during a meeting earlier in May with the U.S. secretaries of Energy and Commerce. The company head said $3.9 billion will be focused on construction of new wind farms and they will be eligible for up to $1 billion from the Department of Energy’s loan guarantees under the federal stimulus program. The remaining $2.1 billion in investment will be used for what Iberdrola called “improving the quality of supply” to an existing base of 2.4 million customers that Iberdrola serves in the United States. Iberdrola said it installed 1.78 GW of wind power capacity last year in the United States, and it estimates that 1.5 GW of U.S. wind power will be added this year.

Encana Corp. is tightening the purse strings and slowing output in 2011 because of sustained low natural gas prices, an executive said last week.

Encana Corp. is tightening the purse strings and slowing output in 2011 because of sustained low prices, an executive said Wednesday.

Canadian natural gas exports are still shrinking, but the speed of the decrease is slowing amid early signs that the prolonged supply decline will end.

Canadian natural gas exports are still shrinking, but the speed of the decrease is slowing amid early signs that the prolonged supply decline will end.