Swing

With the proceeds counted from the sale of its Permian Basin acreage earlier this year, Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. is squarely focused on the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, where it is drilling longer-lateral wells for less money in fewer days and looking for bolt-on acreage acquisitions. The Haynesville Shale will have to wait.

Physical natural gas values fell an average of approximately 8 cents Thursday for Friday delivery as the retreat was in full swing prior to the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage data.

Physical natural gas prices overall added 4 cents Tuesday as bidweek trading got into full swing. Traders saw most resorting to historical purchases and sales of bidweek volumes with no one trying to buy or sell index based on expected market direction. Eastern and Northeast points led the day’s advance, but most market points were steady to slightly higher, and only a few reported losses. At the close of futures trading, June had skidded 6.3 cents to $4.174 and July was off 6.0 cents to $4.224. July crude oil added 86 cents to $95.01/bbl.

Mixed with the solid reviews about all-time record highs for monthly natural gas and oil production in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and Williston Basin region, the director of the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) sounded words of caution that the drilling boom is showing signs of easing, but not because production has slowed much.

An “extremely” warm summer, combined with coal-to-gas switching, has created an “unprecedented” Bcf/day swing in the year/year natural gas supply/demand balance, which should lead to higher prices through the second half of the year, according to energy analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc.

An “extremely” warm summer, combined with coal-to-gas switching, has created an “unprecedented” Bcf/day swing in the year/year natural gas supply/demand balance, which should lead to higher prices through the second half of the year, energy analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Monday.

As one oil and natural gas producer after another highlighted a swing away from drilling for natural gas in second quarter earnings conference calls, the number of operating rigs targeting natural gas fell again last week, dropping seven rigs from the previous week and marking a decline of 44% from the 883 gas-directed rigs operating a year ago, according to the Baker Hughes rig count.

As one oil and natural gas producer after another highlighted a swing away from drilling for natural gas in second quarter earnings conference calls, the number of operating rigs targeting natural gas fell again last week, dropping seven rigs from the previous week and marking a decline of 44% from the 883 gas-directed rigs operating a year ago, according to the Baker Hughes rig count.

The swing toward natural gas vehicles (NGV) took on aspects of a bandwagon last week as two major automakers paraded out new natural gas-powered pickup trucks, and GE and Chesapeake Energy Corp. heralded a new “CNG In A Box” fueling station.