Cash NatGas Price in Oklahoma Hits $999/MMBtu; M-U Thru Roof Too
Just yesterday we told you about the craziness in natural gas prices in Oklahoma (and elsewhere, like Texas) that happened last Friday, when the cash price for natgas hit $600 in trading at one hub in the Sooner State (see Cash NatGas Price Goes Crazy in Oklahoma – Over $600/MMBtu!). Hang on! Yesterday the cash price at the same hub in Oklahoma hit $999! This is beyond crazy. And the high prices are now beginning to travel East, to the Marcellus/Utica. No, not THAT crazy, but we’re seeing prices at places like Dominion South and Tennessee Gas Zone 4 that we haven’t seen in, well, we can’t remember the last time we’ve seen prices this high.
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Oil and gas drilling giant Equinor (formerly called Statoil) is owned by the Norwegian government. Equinor/Statoil has drilled in the Marcellus/Utica for years. It looks like that may be coming to an end–at least the active drilling part. Equinor officials say they are evaluating their U.S. shale holdings, including their active drilling on 27,000 acres in the Utica Shale, with an eye toward selling.
Once you sort through all of the subsidiaries of subsidiaries of subsidiaries, you’ll find this news from a press release we spotted this morning: PennEnergy Resources has sold a gathering pipeline system in western Pennsylvania, called Pine Run Midstream, to a joint venture partnership between venture capital firm Energy Spectrum Partners (based in Texas) and utility/pipeline company UGI (based in Pennsylvania). Sale price: $205 million.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy has just released its annual LNG report (full copy below) detailing every single shipment of LNG exported via tanker ship, identifying where it shipped from (which facility), who bought it, which country it sailed to, etc. Among the gems in the report: in December Cove Point LNG, now operated by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company, saw the highest prices for LNG exports during the month, averaging $7.11 per MMBtu. Cove Point was also the first LNG export facility to load a ship sailing to Croatia with American LNG.
Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published the monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The latest DPR, which shows estimates for oil and gas production from the seven largest shale plays in the U.S., shows a drop in shale gas production across all plays (including the Marcellus/Utica) coming in March–except for an increase in gas production in the M-U’s primary competitor, the Haynesville.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently issued its Annual Energy Outlook for 2021 (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Rep. Balderson calls report stating decline of oil, gas industry “misleading”; Fetterman signs no fossil fuel money pledge; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Washington State Republicans speak out against natural gas bill; NATIONAL: Some U.S. ethanol producers reduce production to sell natural gas for a profit; Natural gas shortage forces feedyards to reformulate feed, packing plants pause production; Auctioning Blackouts (video); INTERNATIONAL: LNG import terminals in India, Europe to add capacity as demand grows; Japan’s LNG imports up in January.