Recently Yahoo New on-line reported the following:
As natural gas prices jump, shale oil firms get gassy
Wed, August 31, 2022 at 4:09 AM
By Liz Hampton
(Reuters) - Natural gas a few years ago was so unwanted that
U.S. shale oil producers sold it at cost just to pump more oil. Today, prices
are near 14-year highs, and new export terminals are rising along with
production forecasts.
The result is an earnings bonanza for companies that once shunned the fuel as an annoying by-product. U.S. benchmark natural gas prices in late August topped $10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), a level not seen since 2008, and the boom-bust cycles from North American demand appear to have been broken amid surging exports.
The U.S. fuel has become key to Western Europe cutting its reliance on Russian gas. Liquefied gas exports this year have averaged 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, up 18% year-over-year. There are at least four new export projects under construction and nearly a dozen others aiming for financial approvals by 2023. Most of the projects will not add to output for years.
"Two or three years ago, oil companies would not even set a hand in natural gas... it was a negative, it was a nuisance, but it's not today," Jay Allison, chief executive of shale producer Comstock Resources, said at a conference in Denver in August.
CASHING IN
The largest U.S. independent oil producer, ConocoPhillips, reported last quarter that it sold natural gas for an average $10.15 per million cubic feet, up 143% from a year ago. The company does not break out profit contribution from gas.
Chesapeake Energy, which in 2019 spent nearly $4 billion to buy an oil-producer, now plans to sell that property and become a pure-play gas company. It is adding two drilling rigs in the Haynesville gas field and recently signed an agreement to deliver the fuel to Golden Pass LNG, a proposed LNG exporter.
BTU has raised its forecast for 2022 gas production for four straight months, with its current outlook 365 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) higher than April's view, while holding its 2022 oil outlook flat.
Not all companies will cash in. Producers including CNX Resources and Southwestern Energy hedged about 60% of their 2022 production, placing a ceiling of around $3 per mmcf. They can either pay to close those hedges, if able, or risk missing out on the price gains, Hagerty said.
U.S. shale gas production is projected to reach 93.84 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in September, up 6.715 bcfd from a year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration. This includes year-over-year volume increases in the three largest fields of 2.6% in Appalachia, 7% in Permian and 13.9% in the Haynesville shale fields.
MORE INVESTMENT
The gains could continue. APA Corp in August said it moved a rig into a West Texas gas field and began drilling again. Three months earlier, it said the field was unlikely to get additional resources. Conoco also said it plans to increase exposure to natural gas, and invest in two LNG projects.
High prices are helping revive asset sales in U.S. gas fields. Exxon Mobil this month said it is selling its Fayetteville shale properties after finding a buyer for North Texas gas that had been on the market for at least a year.
LNG developer Tellurian in July moved to expand its gas holdings, spending $125 million on land to feed a proposed Louisiana export plant. This week, Cheniere Energy disclosed plans to expand its Corpus Christi LNG plant, a move that will take years to complete.
"Natural gas is far, far from a waste product," said Joel Moxley, chief executive at GPA Midstream Association, whose members are seeing a boost from higher volumes on their gathering and processing systems.
"They are making a lot of money at these prices," he said, referring to natural gas producers. The growth will require more pipelines to avoid transportation constraints, he said.
Another change: U.S. gas prices increasingly are set by global demand - not domestic consumption, say experts.
"The U.S. should get used to the likelihood of high double-digit gas prices," said Albert Lin, executive director of Pearl Street Station Finance Lab, which conducts economic analysis related to the energy sector.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; editing by Richard Pullin)
Translation
（路透社） - 幾年前，天然氣非常不甚受歡迎，以至美國頁岩油生產商以成本出售它只是為了抽出更多的頁岩油。如今，價格接近 14 年高位，隨著產量預測, 新的出口站增加。
結果是, 那些曾經將燃料視為令人討厭的副產品的頁岩油公司獲得了豐厚的收益。美國基準天然氣價格在 8 月下旬突破了每百萬英熱單位 (mmBtu) 10 美元，這是自 2008 年以來的最高水平，而在出口激增的情況下，北美需求的繁榮-蕭條週期似乎已經被打破。
美國燃料已成為西歐減少對俄羅斯天然氣依賴的關鍵。今年的液化氣出口量平均為每天 115 億立方英尺，同比增長 18%，至少有四個新的出口項目正在建設中，還有近十個其他項目期待到 2023 年獲得財務批准。大多數項目多年之内不會增加產量。
頁岩油生產商Comstock Resources首蓆執行官 Jay Allison 八月份在丹佛一次的會議上表示: “兩三年前，石油公司甚至不會涉足天然氣...... 是一個負面的副產品，是一個麻煩，但今日不是 “。
兌現賺錢
美國最大的獨立石油生產商ConocoPhillips上季度報告稱，其天然氣平均售價為每百萬立方英尺 10.15 美元，同比增長 143%。公司沒有單獨列出天然氣的利潤貢獻。
Chesapeake Energy 在 2019 年斥資近 40 億美元收購了一家石油生產商，現在計劃出售該資產並成為一家純天然氣公司。 它正在Haynesville氣田增加兩台鑽井平台，最近還簽署了一項協議，將燃料運送給在建議中的液化天然氣出口商 Golden Pass LNG。
作為一間市場研究公司 (FactSet), BTU Analytics 的高級分析師Matt Hagerty表示，像Conoco這樣不對沖天然氣生產的公司正在從美國強勁的價格中受益。對沖保值是指公司以固定價格出售未來產品，在上漲的市場中價格可能會較低。
BTU 已連續四個月上調了對 2022 年天然氣產量的預測，目前的展望比 4 月份的展望高出 3.65 億立方英尺/天 (mmcfd)，同時保持其 2022 年的石油展望持平。
並非所有公司都會兌現賺錢。包括 CNX Resources 和 Southwestern Energy 在內的生產商對 2022 年產量的約 60% 進行了對沖，將上限設置為每 mmcf 約 3 美元。Hagerty說，如果可以的話，他們可以支付費用去停止這些對沖的，或者冒著錯失價格收益的風險。
根據美國能源信息署的數據，9 月份美國頁岩氣產量預計將達到每天 938.4 億立方英尺 (bcfd)，比一年前增加 6.715 bcfd。這包括三個最大頁岩油田的產量: Appalachia同比增長 2.6%，Permian增長 7%，Haynesville增長 13.9%。
更多投資
收益可能會繼續。 APA 公司在 8 月表示，它已將一個鑽井平台移入西德克薩斯氣田，並再次開始鑽探。三個月前，它表示該領域不太可能獲得額外資源。Conoco還表示，它計劃增加對天然氣的投資，並投資兩個液化天然氣項目。
高價格正在幫助恢復美國氣田的資產銷售。埃克森美孚本月表示，為已推銷至少一年的北德克薩斯天然氣找到買家而出售其Fayetteville頁岩資產。
液化天然氣開發商 Tellurian 在 7 月開始擴大其天然氣儲備，在土地上花費了 1.25 億美元，為擬建的路易斯安那州出口廠房供氣。本週，Cheniere Energy 披露了擴建Corpus Christi液化天然氣廠房的計劃，這一舉措將需要數年時間才能完成。
GPA Midstream Association首席執行官Joel Moxley說: “天然氣遠非廢物” ，該協會的成員看到其收集和處理系統的產量增加帶來了提振效應。
他說: “他們以這些價格賺了很多錢” ，指的是天然氣生產商。他又說，增長將需要更多的管道以避免運輸上的拘束。
另一個變化：專家說，美國的天然氣價格越來越多地由全球需求決定，而不是國內消費。
從事與能源行業相關的經濟分析的Pearl Street Station Finance Lab的執行董事 Albert Lin說： “美國應該習慣高兩位數的天然氣價格的可能性。”
So,
among the U.S. shale oil producers, a few years ago natural gas
was an unwanted by-product that was sold at cost only. Today, gas price is near
14-year highs, and new export terminals are increasing along with production
forecasts. I think the high gas price is creating a new business opportunity for
the American shale oil producers.
Translation note:
1. Shale oil is an unconventional oil
produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal
dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock
(kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately
as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding
hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined
products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil. (Wikipedia)
2.FactSet is a type of specialized company
that creates flexible, open data and software solutions for over 170,000 of
investment professionals around the world, providing instant anytime, anywhere
access to financial data and analytics that investors use to make crucial
decisions. https://go.factset.com/
3. BTU
Analytics, a FactSet Company, combines bottoms-up fundamental analysis with
upstream financial research to produce insightful, useful intelligence for
investors at every level of the market. (https://btuanalytics.com/)
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