May 14, 2020 – Natural Gas Intelligence
Sinking U.S. Exports Drive Major Pullback in Natural Gas Forwards; AECO Losses Not as Severe
By Leticia Gonzales
Faced with a massive decline in liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand and a slow reopening of the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, natural gas forward prices collapsed during the May 7-13 period, NGI’s Forward Look data show.…
Read the full article here: https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/122000-sinking-us-exports-drive-major-pullback-in-natural-gas-forwards-aeco-losses-not-as-severe
… RBN Energy LLC also examined the impacts to natural gas demand in Western Canada given the slowdown in oilsands production. The analytics firm looked at the data in the context of the last time oilsands production was seriously curtailed -- during the Fort McMurray wildfires in April and May 2016.
During the wildfires, bitumen production in the oilsands declined by about 1 million b/d, from an average of 2.63 million b/d in March 2016 to its low point of 1.60 million b/d in May. Oilsands demand for gas use during that time fell by one-third, from 2.44 Bcf/d on average in March to 1.62 Bcf/d in May, for an average reduction of 0.82 Bcf/d, according to RBN.
“The seasonal demand swing from the end of winter into May is typically very small for the oilsands, so nearly all of the gas demand drop four years ago was due to reduced bitumen output,” said RBN analyst Martin King.
