Alrighty, I admit it...I can’t understand a word of this. I don’t know what NGL is, something about natural gas? Does the article mean we have lots of gas but no one is buying it? Why is someone rejecting shale gas and who are they? Please, just a little help for those of us who are not conversant with terms of the petroleum world.
NGL = Natural Gas Liquids. The upshot of the article is that the cost of fractionation and transportation of ethane pretty much eats up any revenue the midstream operator may derive from it, so they’re saying “No, thanks!” to ethane streams. (Subject to revision and extension by others, of course. ;-) )
NGL is Natural Gas Liquids: Ethane, Propane, Butane, etc. It is not the same as LNG, Liquid Natural Gas which is methane cooled down to -260°F to make it liquid.
Does the article mean we have lots of gas but no one is buying it?
No. We do have a lot of new Natural Gas supplies hitting the market and holding down prices. Additional consumption of Natural Gas like Electric Power Companies have switched more to Nat Gas over coal and raised the consumption.
However, the article is talking about the NGLs, specifically ethane which often goes to the production of plastics. New manufacturing chemical facilities are being built but the supply of ethane from "wet" (with liquids) natural gas wells has risen faster than the plants have been built, driving down the price for ethane.
Why is someone rejecting shale gas and who are they?
It is not that type of rejection and it is not rejecting shale gas. It is talking about the production of liquids in a natural gas processing plant.
Please, just a little help for those of us who are not conversant with terms of the petroleum world.
I will be glad to answer questions as I can. I primarily posted this article in response to another comment talking about how natural gas production was affecting manufacturing in the US. These low prices are driving the building of chemical plants that use NGL's as feedstock to product polymers and the like used to make plastics.
bump