Shale Daily

Natural gas futures struggled to find direction on Friday, trading in a narrow range of gains and losses throughout the session. Favorable near-term weather forecasts and continued light production estimates were countered by export weakness and only modest improvement in supply/demand balances evidenced in the latest government inventory data. At A Glance: Output near 98…

The U.S. natural gas rig count slid to 106 for the week ending Friday (April 19), down three rigs from the week prior and down 53 rigs year/year, according to the latest tally from oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Co. (BKR). The addition of five rigs in the oil patch lifted the combined U.S. rig…

Lofty levels of natural gas in storage and a severe Permian Basin supply glut continued to cloud the outlook for prices. Natural gas forward prices fell in every region during the April 11-17 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show. Levels remained well below the $2.00/MMBtu level across the Lower 48, with exceptionally weak West…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. The recent publication of Mexico’s “Prospectivas” report by the energy ministry Sener is a significant event for stakeholders in the natural gas…

The Netherlands is expected to permanently close the huge Groningen natural gas field, the Dutch Senate announced this week. Groningen, one of the largest gas fields in Europe, caused earthquakes and damage to local communities for more than 20 years, which created debate among politicians, local residents and gas industry supporters for years about whether…

With geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continuing to make the Suez Canal a risky crossing, almost 20% of all U.S. LNG exports have taken the longer route around southern Africa so far this year, according to data from Kpler. After conflict in Israel and Gaza sparked off in October, the threat of rocket attacks…

Natural gas futures were essentially flat through midday trading Friday, with prices seemingly lacking direction amid the competing fundamental trends of sagging export demand and fading production. Here’s the latest: May Nymex futures off fractionally at $1.756/MMBtu at around 2:30 p.m. ET U.S. drops three natural gas rigs in latest Baker Hughes Co. count The…

Foreseeable risks from swelling natural gas inventories and an active hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin could bring more volatility to commodity prices in the coming months, a market expert said this week at an industry conference. The looming threat of hurricanes, which forecasters are predicting to be more frequent this season, will be “an…

Liberty Energy Inc. CEO Chris Wright said Thursday he does not expect exploration and production customers to increase their onshore natural gas activity before the end of this year, but a lack of activity will not be a stumbling block to advance future opportunities. The oilfield services (OFS) company, considered one of the leading hydraulic…