Energy / Natural Gas

• Belarus Tightens Energy Ties with Venezuela Following 20 Years of Gazprom Bullying

  In 1961, the USSR’s placement of ballistic missiles in Cuba ignited a missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. Fifty years later, the last four years have seen a Latin American nation coming to the aid of a former Soviet republic. How times have changed. On 16 November private news agency Belaruskaia Informatsyinaia Kampania BELAPAN, a counterpoint to the official Belaruskaia Telegrafnae Agenstva reported from the capital Minsk that since the beginning of 2011, 11 tankers laden with crude oil from Venezuela have arrived in neighboring oil port Muuga, with each of them delivering roughly…

• Israel - Major Natural Gas Producer? Not Yet

  The year 2011 has proved a mixed blessing for Israel’s energy industry. On the down side, on 10 November Egypt’s Oil Ministry said that Egypt's $500 million East Mediterranean Gas Company Ltd. (EMG) pipeline, which transports Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan, was damaged by two explosions and put out of commission. It was the seventh such attack since February, when a popular uprising began that eventually overthrew Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Before the latest incident the EMG pipeline supplied Israel with about 40 percent of its natural gas needs. In the face of such supply concerns Israel is attempting to…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of November 21, 2011

  January Natural Gas futures finished lower for the week despite news from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that natural gas inventories rose less-than-expected last week. The move to 3.463 put the market at a 13-week low and showed no sign of a let up, meaning traders should look for lower prices to continue this week. Although traders initially reacted to the news that U.S. natural gas storage rose by only 19 billion cubic feet versus estimates of 25 billion cubic feet, traders decided to focus on the total U.S. natural gas in storage. This figure rose to a record 3.850…

• Europe and China's Shale Gas Potential

  Two countries have significant reserves: Poland, at an EIA-estimated 187 trillion cubic feet; and France, at 180 trillion cubic feet; both have enough to make them gas independent for decades, if not longer. But as environmental concerns have halted development of French fields, the fear is Poland could go the same way. That would be a shame from an environmental as much as an economic point of view. Much of Poland’s power is generated from home-mined coal; a switch to gas, even shale gas with its associated methane leakage, would be a cleaner option. In addition, Poland is reliant on…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of November 14, 2011

  Natural gas futures continued to fall on the weekly chart. Last week the January contract took out three week’s worth of bottoms to set another contract low. The break in the market was so severe that it allowed prices to catch up with a pair of steep downtrending Gann angles at 4.469 and 4.317 this week. A decline back under these angles will put the market in an extremely weak position and indicate that the market is likely to continue to fall at a rate of about .08 per week. A break of this magnitude indicates growing pessimism triggered by…

• Namibia Pressing Forward on Natgas Project

  Namibian President Hifike-punye Pohamba has ordered the country’s Minister of Mines and Energy Isak Katali to expedite implementing the country’s long delayed Kudu natural gas project. The project will both earn the country needed foreign hard currency and help alleviate the nation’s chronic electricity shortfalls. Namibia has recently announced that it has an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil reserves and attendant natural gas fields off its coastline. The Kudu natural gas field has an estimated 1.3 trillion cubic feet of exploitable natural gas reserves. Partners in the Kudu natural gas field include the Russian Federation’s state owned natural gas…

• U.S. Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing

  On 5 November an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois.   Until two years ago Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state. Why? In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state. Cause and effect? The practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes, both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of November 7, 2011

  Natural gas continues to base while attempting to form its final bottom according to the January futures contract. Last week’s action produced a higher-top and a higher-bottom compared to the previous week, however the close was lower. The weak close has put the market in a position to decline further, setting up the possibility of a break through the recent bottom at 3.870. Based on the last range from 4.962 to 3.870, the retracement zone at 4.416 to 4.545 is the next likely upside target, but the market has to break through a minor top at 4.143 first. Even after…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of October 31, 2011

  December Natural Gas futures posted a closing price reversal bottom on the weekly chart. This pattern is a bullish pattern that typically leads to the start of a 2 to 3 week rally to at least 50% of the last break. Although the pattern has formed, there still has to be confirmation. A trade through last week’s high at 3.9400 will confirm the pattern. Short-sellers are likely to begin covering their positions once the bottom is verified. This is should trigger a short surge to the upside. A trade through the high from two weeks ago at 4.039 is likely…

• Apocalypse Redux? U.S. Natural Gas Find off Vietnam Could Raise Tensions with China

  First, the good news… U.S. oil company ExxonMobil is reporting a “potentially significant” gas discovery off the coast of Vietnam, stating in a press release, "We can confirm ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Vietnam Limited drilled its second exploration well offshore Danang in August 2011 and encountered hydrocarbons." ExxonMobil is the world's largest publicly traded oil company by market value. While Vietnam, an oil exporter and the third-largest oil producer in South Asia, began offshore exploration of its reserves in the 1970s, Hanoi only started in 2004 awarding offshore exploration concessions to a plethora of foreign companies, including those from the…