Supplies

Since last year, gas supplies are higher, prices are lower, the forward curve is friendlier to buyers, but winter is still a wild card, FERC staff told the Commission last Thursday during the Winter 2012-2013 Energy Market Assessment presentation.

Since last year, gas supplies are higher, prices are lower, the forward curve is friendlier to buyers, but winter is still a wild card, FERC staff told the Commission Thursday during the Winter 2012-2013 Energy Market Assessment presentation.

A sidelight of North Dakota’s oil/natural gas boom that predates the shale plays by decades is the widespread natural occurrence of shallow-lying gas mixing with groundwater. The state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) conducts an ongoing study that has identified gas in groundwater in 52 of the state’s 53 counties.

North Dakota again set new all-time highs for oil and natural gas production, drilling permits issued and producing wells in August, according to the latest report from state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Director Lynn Helms. The average price for sweet crude was up, too.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), the largest oilfield equipment supplier in North America, beat profit forecasts in 3Q2012 on solid demand in the deepwater and overseas, but the U.S. land drilling market has stalled, executives said Thursday.

Industry investment in infrastructure and more emphasis on infill developmental wells are helping to contain North Dakota’s wellhead flaring of natural gas in the oil/liquids-rich Bakken Shale formation, a state official said.

With dry gas supplies ballooning, it’s probably a good thing that the industry grew demonstrated peak working capacity in underground storage caverns last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). From April 2011 to April 2012, Lower 48 state capacity increased 3%, or 136 Bcf, to 4,239 Bcf, according to a new EIA report.

Overall cash prices Thursday rose a penny on average, but the modest change belies regional swings. The Northeast plunged as pipeline supplies from the Canadian Maritimes returned, and southern California rose as the area remained in the grip of a heat wave.

A combination of slackened demand and robust production will make natural gas supplies plentiful in the Pacific Northwest until 2029 at least, Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities recently told regulators in the three states in which it has gas and electric operations.