Thaw

A small handful of cold, hard numbers tells why Canadian unconventional natural gas is forced to rely on elusive Asian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to thaw out drilling prospects.

A small handful of cold, hard numbers tells why Canadian shale gas is forced to rely on elusive Asian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to thaw out drilling prospects

Canadian industry interest in arctic drilling is warming up in the regulatory thaw signaled by the National Energy Board (NEB) with its December approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project (see related story), but the rigs will remain frozen out of offshore prospects until further notice.

Canadian industry interest in arctic drilling is warming up in the regulatory thaw signaled by the National Energy Board (NEB) with its December approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project, but the rigs will remain frozen out of offshore prospects until further notice.

With weather forecasts into March beginning to show some signs of thaw, March natural gas futures on expiration Wednesday probed lower for a majority of the session. The contract reached a low of $8.880 before going off of the board at $8.930, down 27.6 cents from Tuesday’s finish. The April contract, which will now take over as front-month contract, finished Wednesday at $9.060, down 19.2 cents.

No stone is being left unturned, including the fabled Northwest Passage, in the quest to resurrect an expansion of Canadian natural gas supplies for anticipated market growth in the United States. The latest dormant plan to be taken out of industry freezers for a fresh run through serious economic study is a grand design born in the “energy crisis” era of the 1970s for icebreaking tankers to deliver liquefied gas south from Canada’s Arctic Islands.

No stone is being left unturned, including the fabled Northwest Passage, in the quest to resurrect an expansion of Canadian natural gas supplies for anticipated market growth in the United States. The latest dormant plan to be taken out of industry freezers for a fresh run through serious economic study is a grand design born in the “energy crisis” era of the 1970s for icebreaking tankers to deliver liquefied gas south from Canada’s Arctic Islands.

Bullied by sudden and seldom-seen agreement between private and governmental weather forecasting agencies, natural gas futures spiked higher Wednesday evening and Thursday as traders initiated long positions they had liquidated over the past several weeks. Nymex reopened with a bang at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday evening as prices rebounded more than a dime off Tuesday’s $4.789 close.