Coronavirus

Extraordinary measures are continuing to slam the oil and gas markets, as more North American producers, including EQT Corp. and EOG Resources Inc., are announcing cuts to spending while oil prices — and demand — are slaughtered.

Leading natural gas marketers reported a third consecutive quarterly decline in 4Q2019, though the rate of decline slowed significantly, and total sales volumes for full-year 2019 were off only slightly compared with 2018, according to NGI’s Top North American Natural Gas Marketers rankings.

Mexico so far has determined to hold off from measures seen in other Latin American nations as it confronts the dual blow of the coronavirus and plummeting oil prices.

With day-to-day life upended by the coronavirus outbreak and stocks plummeting, natural gas futures sagged under the pressure as markets weighed the prospect of demand destruction from the nation’s new social distancing regimen. The April Nymex contract fell 5.4 cents to settle at $1.815/MMBtu after trading in a range from $1.778 to $1.854.

Mirroring the rebound in stocks, natural gas futures were trading sharply higher early Friday, helped by colder trends in the latest weather data. The April Nymex contract was up 8.0 cents to $1.921/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Drastic measures being taken by governments in Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus are likely to impact natural gas consumption on the continent, which has been a major destination for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, particularly those exported from the United States.

A stream of oil and natural gas producers, as well as their oilfield services brethren, are proactively responding to the downturn in oil prices and the slump in demand by reducing spending, activity and in some cases, agreeing to take salary cuts.

During a week in which oil and stock markets disintegrated and the coronavirus reached pandemic status, natural gas forward prices rallied as traders attempted to assess the fallout, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Apache Corp. is dropping all of its Permian Basin rigs and slicing its dividend by 90%, joining a growing list of oil and natural gas operators responding to the collapse in oil prices and the devastating coronavirus, which is gripping the country.