Pipeline Infrastructure

With crude prices below $30/Bbl and the price spread between U.S. domestic crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and international equivalent Brent trading in a very narrow range – the economics of moving Crude-by-Rail (CBR) rarely make sense any more.  Rail shipments are down across all regions and railroads are reporting sharply lower revenues from CBR shipments.  Today we start a new series revisiting the regions where CBR traffic boomed a couple of years back and contemplating its future value to shippers and refiners.

How the international market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) expands and evolves is of critical importance to U.S. and Canadian natural gas producers and midstream companies alike. The success of North American-sourced gas in penetrating LNG demand centers--Asia and Europe in particular—will help determine not only how much gas needs to be produced, but how much incremental pipeline and liquefaction/LNG export capacity needs to be developed, and how much upward pressure there will be on U.S. and Canadian natural gas prices. There is a lot of uncertainty about how things will shake out. Today, we conclude our series with an assessment of what we know, what we aren’t sure about, and what we think we’re likely to see happen.

The latest forecast from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) was published last week (June 9, 2015). This annual survey of Canadian crude production, transportation and market demand differs from many forecasts because it is based on surveys of producers and refiners rather than price projections and models. In spite of lower crude prices CAPP continue to forecast growth in Canadian crude output to 2030 – albeit at a slower pace than previously expected.  Today we review CAPP’s production and North American market demand forecasts.

The U.S. Northeast natural gas market thus far has been able to offset local production growth primarily by pushing out supply from other regions.  But recent trends in pipeline flows suggest that for the first time, net flows into the Northeast will fall to zero this summer, marking the end of displacement. Meanwhile, regional natural gas production could be as much as 4 Bcf/d higher this summer than last. The result could put this summer’s prices in a precarious position further challenging producers suffering in an oversupplied market. . Today’s blog looks at recent trends in Northeast flows and implications for prices this summer.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) June 2014 Clean Power Plan (CPP) proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector 30% from 2005 levels by 2030 would result in a sharp increase in natural gas consumption and potentially major changes in infrastructure to deliver more gas to power plants. The proposal would radically increase the pace at which coal-fired power plants are replaced by gas-fired generation. Today, we consider the proposal and its likely impact on gas demand and the industry.