Efficiency

For the first time in six years, pipeline flow data show that natural gas production from Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale is rising. Additionally, rig counts and producers’ plans suggest more growth is on the way. Is the play poised to create a whole new crop of Bayou Billionaires?  Or is this a head fake that will only make us long for days of Haynesville past.  Well, it depends.  Because even though the Haynesville basin is looking up, it still faces some formidable challenges, from its geology to competition from other supply regions. Today, we continue our look at Haynesville’s prospects.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest U.S. monthly crude production statistics published March 30th show January production down 135 Mb/d versus December 2014, the largest month-on-month decline since June 2011.  There was an earlier warning sign from EIA.  The agency’s Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) published March 9th predicted that production would decline in April in three major U.S. oil production regions – Bakken, Eagle Ford and Niobrara. Since oil and NGL prices crashed last fall, the market has been watching with bated breath for the first signs of a production slowdown. Certainly rig counts have nosedived amid producer budget cuts in 2015. But are we really seeing the beginnings of a long-term slowdown just yet?  Was the DPR a harbinger of the January production decline? The clues lie within the DPR report.  Today’s blog parses DPR methodology, assumptions and risks as well as contributing market factors to get to the bottom of what is driving those reported production declines.

Natural gas prices for the nearby CME NYMEX futures contract at the Henry Hub in Louisiana have fallen by 38 percent from their high in February of $6.149/MMBtu to yesterday’s close at $3.847/MMBtu (July 24, 2014). Over the same period the price of CME NYMEX Appalachian coal has stayed virtually flat at $60/ton. So far falling gas prices have not increased power burn – the consumption of natural gas by power generators switching from coal. But natural gas prices in the Marcellus at Dominion South Point have fallen by nearly 60 percent since February to $2.46/MMBtu making natural gas a cheaper fuel than coal for power burn in that region. Today we discuss prospects for coal to gas switching this summer.

The second release of the EIA’s new monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for November came out on Tuesday (November 12, 2013) showing December natural gas production is expected to increase in four of the six regions covered. But one region alone – the Marcellus – accounts for 76 percent of natural gas production growth. In fact if the Marcellus were a country it would rank 5th in world gas production – ahead of Qatar. The DPR provides a breakdown of rig productivity and production from new and legacy wells and includes access to historical data back to 2007. Today we continue our review of the latest Energy Information Administration’s  (EIA) report.

Crude-by-rail has had a huge impact on the market for tank cars.  Currently there are 53,000 tank cars on back order and more orders are coming in. That’s up from a backlog of 48,000 just a couple of months ago. The tank car manufactures are enjoying every bit of it but for the first time since the ethanol boom, they can’t keep up. In the old days it took 9 months to deliver a new car. Now, there is such a backlog that manufacturers can’t deliver a new car for 24 - 30 months.  Today we will review the rapidly evolving tank car situation based on a recent presentation made by Travis Brock from Strobel Starostka, a construction and rail services firm deeply involved in in the crude-by-rail markets.