Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Range Resources cuts spending plan amid low prices
TribLIVE.com ^ | Jan. 15, 2015 | Tribune-Review

Posted on 01/19/2015 5:16:48 AM PST by thackney

Pennsylvania's most prolific shale gas driller dialed back 2015 spending plans Thursday because of low natural gas prices, following a general belt-tightening among energy companies across the country.

Fort Worth-based Range Resources Corp., which has a regional headquarters in Cecil, dropped its capital expenditure plan by a third to $870 million from $1.3 billion. That initial figure was 18 percent lower than its 2014 plan.

The company plans to spend nearly all that money in developing Marcellus shale wells and still plans to increase gas production by 20 percent over this year. “The time and effort that Range spent in identifying and capturing one of the largest acreage positions in the core of the Marcellus ... gives Range a distinct competitive advantage in this period of low commodity prices and we will continue to adapt and take advantage of opportunities as commodity markets change,” said CEO Jeff Ventura.

Natural gas futures settled at $3.16 per million British thermal units. A glut of production and low demand in a mild winter has driven prices down 17 percent over the past three months, as crude oil prices dropped by more than 40 percent.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: energy; marcellus; naturalgas

1 posted on 01/19/2015 5:16:48 AM PST by thackney
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: thackney
A mild winter ??

Not by MY electric bill

2 posted on 01/19/2015 5:20:37 AM PST by knarf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knarf

Perhaps they are only comparing to last year?


3 posted on 01/19/2015 5:25:41 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Natural Gas Weekly Update
http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/#itn-tabs-3
for week ending January 14, 2015

First cold snap of 2015 increases natural gas demand 23%

Colder-than-normal temperatures in the eastern half of the United States drove up natural gas demand across all sectors during January 7 through January 10. During this period, average U.S. natural gas consumption rose 23% compared to the average consumption for the week preceding this cold snap. The high demand was met by continued strong production, increased storage withdrawals, and more imported natural gas.

Total U.S. consumption averaged more than 122 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) through the four-day cold spell, peaking at more than 130 Bcf/d on Thursday, January 8, according to data from Bentek Energy. Consumption on Thursday was the third-highest level since 2005, the start of Bentek’s data series. The largest demand increase came from the residential/commercial sector because of increased space heating requirements. Consumption grew for this sector during the cold spell by more than 27% over the previous week.

Power burn (natural gas used for electrical generation) rose by 19% during the four-day period. The Southeast, a region where electricity is used as the primary energy for space heating, showed a significant increase in demand during the cold spell, averaging 9.5 Bcf/d from January 7 through January 10, an increase of 35% from the previous week.

The increase in consumption was met by a combination of storage withdrawals and increased imports. Net natural gas inventory withdrawals for the week ending January 9 totaled 236 Bcf, according to EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. This is the highest withdrawal so far this winter. In addition to the increase in storage withdrawals, imports of natural gas from Canada grew by 21% during the four-day cold snap compared to the prior week, averaging 7.8 Bcf/d. LNG sendout more than doubled during that period, ramping up to more than 2 Bcf/d on January 8.

The largest source of U.S. natural gas supply is domestic dry gas production. Freeze-offs of natural gas producing wells contributed to slight declines in production, on average, from January 7 through January 10, compared to the previous week. Production during the four-day period averaged 70 Bcf/d, but that is more than 8% above the average daily production recorded for January 2014. The relatively high level of domestic production is reducing the reliance on natural gas storage and may also be contributing to moderating prices on peak-demand days.

Despite the heightened demand on January 7 through January 10, the Henry Hub natural gas spot price remained relatively low. For most days during the cold snap, the price at Henry Hub was below $3 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). Although prices in the Northeast increased to around $12/MMBtu during the cold snap, this is significantly less than the prices that occurred during the cold spells experienced this past winter.

More at link


4 posted on 01/19/2015 5:27:04 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: knarf; thackney

In SW PA where the local Range headquarters are it’s been mild compared to last year. Of course the next 2 months is when we get the most snow and can still be hit with sub zero temps.


5 posted on 01/19/2015 5:47:03 AM PST by Eagles6 (Valley Forge Redux. If not now, when? If not here, where? If not us then who?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson