FERC Report: Still More Demand than Supply for NatGas in 2018
Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its annual State of the Markets report–for 2018. The report summarizes FERC’s assessment of natural gas, electric, and other energy market developments during the past year. The revelation (for us) coming from the report was in reading that although the U.S. had record high natural gas production and demand last year (from electric generation and LNG exports), the growth in demand for natgas outpaced the growth in production.
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Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, published a post yesterday with information that’s sure to make anti-fossil fuelers go nuts. Even with increased use of so-called renewables and a major emphasis on conserving energy, America’s overall energy usage went up 4% in 2018 to a new, all-time high. Not only that, but America’s use of dreaded fossil fuels also went up by 4% last year!
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report. The DPR is a forecast of oil and gas production in the country’s seven major shale plays for the coming month, made by the expert number crunchers at EIA.
What will Pennsylvania’s future with respect to energy look like 25 years from now? What role will shale gas play? And how will that role affect the state? A group of 35 people began to study that question in the summer of 2017 and the end result, a new study, has just been released (full copy below). According to the study’s results, there are two distinct paths PA can take, resulting in two very different outcomes.
If you’ve hung around MDN for long and read our posts on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), you’ve come across talk about DUCs–
The International Energy Agency has just released its latest assessment of global energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions for 2018. The “Global Energy & CO2 Status Report” (full copy below) provides a high-level and up-to-date view of energy markets, including latest available data for oil, natural gas, coal, wind, solar, nuclear power, electricity, and energy efficiency. The big winner in 2018 across Planet Earth? Natural gas.
Yesterday IHS Markit released a study commissioned by Shale Crescent USA and JobsOhio that finds natural gas produced in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will be 45% of the nation’s production by 2040, up from 31% this year. This is truly big news with lots of ramifications.
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report. The DPR is a forecast of oil and gas production in the country’s seven major shale plays for the coming month, made by the expert number crunchers at EIA.
In the same way America’s “unnecessary” and audacious effort to put a man on the moon in the 1960s produced the unintended consequence of discovering new materials and inventions that have fundamentally changed our society (practical applications, like computers), so too has the “unnecessary” practice of hydraulic fracturing led to new discoveries and information about how the human body works–enlightening scientists, ultimately improving human health.
A recent Bloomberg article got it wrong, as they typically do, with this headline: “Biggest Threat to Once-Prized Gas Is Getting Kicked Out of Homes.” Residential natural gas use has been relatively flat, for years. Yet natural gas demand has rocked upward, which begs the question–so who are the new customers using all that gas? MDN friend Jude Clemente has the answer…
BTU Analytics, according to their website, “provides independent fundamentals-based consulting and analytical subscription reports to the North American oil, NGL, and natural gas markets. Our focus is giving clients answers to complex questions supported by data and backed by analysis of the market from wellhead to burner tip.” BTU recently made a bold prediction. The company predicts Marcellus/Utica natural gas production will (already has) plateau at around 31 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).
In contrast to a prediction by BTU Analytics that the Marcellus/Utica region has plateaued and likely won’t produce more than 31 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas (see Industry Consultant Predicts M-U Output Ceiling is 31 Bcf/d), the number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (our favorite government agency) have a different view.