Energy / Natural Gas

• Pakistan to Produce Natural Gas - By Burning Underground Coal

  As 2011 draws to a close, consider the miserable plight of the average Pakistani electricity consumer.  With about 50 per cent less electricity generation capability than the actual demand, Pakistan’s National Grid is facing more than a 5,000-megawatt shortfall in power generation, leading to blackouts in both urban and rural areas of the country. Due to unscheduled shortages by the National Power Control Center, urban areas are facing unscheduled minimum 8-hour power blackouts each day, while in rural areas the blackouts can last as long as 14 hours.  The situation is equally miserable in the country’s compressed natural gas (CNG)…

• India Ponders Developing Extensive Fracking Industry

  Of the four rising economies comprising the BRIC grouping, only the Russian Federation and Brazil are self-sufficient in energy production.  Accordingly, China is investigating any and all possible energy sources, including shale gas produced by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Why? Because the reserves are apparently there. Last April the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that China has nearly 50 percent more "technically recoverable" shale gas than the United States, placing its reserves at 1.275 quadrillion cubic feet and China has started drilling to meet an ambitious annual production target of 80 billion cubic meters by 2020. Now India seems poised to go down a…

• Venezuela to Open up Massive Natural Gas Field with European Investment

  On 23 December Spain's biggest oil firm Repsol YPF, S.A. and Italy’s Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi S.p.A., better known by the acronym ENI, signed a $1.5 billion deal with state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, (PDVSA) to develop a huge new gas reserve in Venezuela. Repsol YPF, S.A. Chairman Antonio Brufau, ENI S.p.A. Chairman Paolo Scaroni and Venezuelan Minister for Oil and Mining Rafael Ramirez signed the agreement in Caracas.  How big? According to a statement released by Repsol YPF, S.A., Perla (the pearl) field is 31 miles off Venezuela’s coast in the Cardon IV block of the Gulf of Venezuela…

• The Benefits of Shale Gas Far Outweigh the Negatives of Fracking

  Natural gas is a critical feedstock to many chemical production processes, and has many environmental benefits over coal as a fuel for electricity generation; over electricity and traditional heating fuels in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors; and over gasoline as a fuel for the transportation industry. Because natural gas has the lowest carbon content of all fossil fuels and not a mixture of other carbon containing compounds with other inorganic impurities, it is the cleanest “burning” fossil fuel, including lower emissions of sulphur, metal compounds, and carbon dioxide. But to produce natural gas from shale has some questionable environmental,…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of December 26, 2011

  The downtrend continued in the Natural Gas futures market as the February contract reached a new low at $3.100. The trade was slow last week, partly because of light volume due to pre-holiday trading and because the market was nearing the psychologically important $3.000 level. Buying or short-covering wasn’t particularly strong, but based on the pace of the trading; it looked as if selling pressure was light. This was probably because new short traders were scared out of fear the market would quickly reverse to the upside at any time. The main reason for last week’s decline was once again…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of December 19, 2011

  The sell-off continued in February Natural Gas last week with the futures market reaching a new low for the year. Like the previous nearby contracts, the February contract is walking down a pair of steep downtrending Gann angles at 3.20 and 3.09 this week. The swing indicator shows that the main trend is down. The last main top is 3.741. A trader through this price will turn the main trend to up. Without the formation of a support base that could take weeks to build, any rally is likely to be triggered by short-covering, which will likely set up another…

• Earthquakes, Water Pollution and Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Fracking - Strike Number Three?

  The last decade has seen a sustained campaign by the hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking”) industry against its critics, as the fracking industry in the U.S. alone was worth an estimated $76 billion in 2010 and is projected to grow to $231 billion in 2036 if only those pesky environmentalists can be sidelined. According to Washington’s energy Information Administration, production of shale gas in the United States in 2010 totalled 4.87 trillion cubic feet (tcf) compared with 0.39 tcf only a decade earlier. The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has already transformed North America's natural gas market in less than…

• Abundance of Shale Gas Could Drive the US Manufacturing Industry to New Heights

  "The abundance of shale gas resources may spark a U.S. manufacturing renaissance with economic benefits that include cost savings, greater investments to expand U.S. manufacturing facilities and increased levels of employment, according to a new report released last Friday by PwC titled, “Shale Gas: A renaissance in US manufacturing?” To achieve these results, however, PwC says that manufacturers must help manage the environmental, regulatory and tax concerns created by shale gas resources. “An underappreciated part of the shale gas story is the substantial cost benefits that could become available to manufacturers based upon estimates of future natural gas prices as…

• Natural Gas: The Clean Alternative

  It has been common knowledge for quite sometime now that natural gas is a suitable clean alternative to all fossil fuels. Natural gas can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its reserves are abundant. Sure, it’s not on par with renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind. But let’s get real; solar, wind, biomass, geothermal lack the installed base to make a difference. A quick review of the supply source and demand sector data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) given below shows that: • Coal is the primary supply source for Electric Power Generation; the largest energy demand…

• Natural Gas Analysis for the Week of December 12, 2011

  Forecasts of warmer temperatures in the U.S. pressured January Natural Gas futures last week. These unseasonal temperatures are expected to continue to keep buyers on the sidelines this week. With weather taking care of the demand side of the equation, traders turned their focus once again on the huge domestic gas supply. The inability to put a dent in supply and the continued injection of product is forcing traders to believe that the market will remain bearish throughout the entire winter season. Last week’s late sell-off pushed the natural gas market to 3.309 while taking out the closing price reversal…