A post on the Seeking Alpha blog details how successful Chesapeake Energy has been at rapidly leasing enormous acreages in all of the major natural gas shale plays in the United States. They author calls them a “land acquisition machine”.
Natural Gas Stocks
Chesapeake Energy: Land Acquisition Machine
$21B Spend on Shale Gas M&A During first 1/2 of 2010
An article on the EngineerLive.com website reports that during the first half of 2010 US shale gas merger and acquisition expenditures totalled $21 billion.
UK Gas Supplies Unbalanced
Natural gas supplies in some parts of the UK are out of balance with very cold weather, an LNG supply source running out of gas, system pressures falling, and spot prices shooting up. More at Bloomberg.
Williams to buy 85,000 Acres of Bakken Shale and Three Forks
Williams Exploration and Production is buying over 85,000 acres of land over the Bakken Shale and Upper Three Forks Formation. This follows their recent purchase of 100,000 acres of Marcellus Shale properties. More at TradingMarkets.com.
Recognizing the Potential of US Natural Gas
A blog post on the Financial Times website reviews how some of the most important oil companies from Europe and Asia were buying into natural gas plays in the United States long before major US oil companies made similar investments and before the US government seemed to pay much attention.
Chevron to Buy Atlas Energy for $4.3B
Chevron announced that it will purchase Atlas Energy, a company with extensive holdings in the Marcellus Shale gas play of Pennsylvania for $4.3 billion. More at CNN Money.
Selling Your Natural Gas Stocks?
An article by Keith Kohl on the Energy and Capital website makes an argument for buying natural gas stocks based upon a growing demand for gas. He also weighs in on the fate of LNG import projects… but those same facilities might have some value as export terminals.
Questioning the Sanity of Big Natural Gas Shale Deals
An article in the Calgary Herald pokes at a few recent natural gas shale transactions that seemed to go for an awful lot of money considering the current price of natural gas and the abundance of natural gas opportunities.
Indian Company Buys Into the Eagle Ford and Marcellus
According to TradingMarkets.com, Reliance Industries has a new deal to buy $1.3 billion in Eagle Ford Shale assets and in April paid $1.7 billion for Marcellus Shale assets.
Chesapeake Diversifies into Oil and Natural Gas Liquids
Chesapeake Energy is diversifying. An article on the BusinessWeek site reports that they started diversifying into oil and natural gas liquids.
New Players in the Gas Shale Plays
An article in the Calgary Herald explores how several large oil and gas companies have recently taken big stakes in the natural gas shales (ExxonMobil, Total, Shell, Reliance) and a coal company, Consol Energy, is buying natural gas assets from Dominion Resources.
Exxon Mobil Cleared to Purchase XTO
An article at Market Watch reports that Exxon Mobil now has approval from both US and Dutch regulatory agencies for its purchase of XTO Energy. The significance of this deal is the entry of Exxon Mobil into the US onshore natural gas sector.
Reliance Industries of India Seeks a Marcellus Shale Stake
Reliance Industries, one of India’s largest companies hopes to enter a partnership with Atlas Energy for a stake in their Marcellus Shale natural gas operations. More in an article at Reuters.
CONSOL Energy CEO Talks About Buying Gas from Dominion
In this video CONSOL Energy CEO, Brett Harvey, talks about the company’s purchase of natural gas assets from Dominion Resources. He seems to think highly of the potential for natural gas. A quote: “Natural Gas will be the chosen fuel.” (Consol already owns a lot of coal mines between the surface and the Marcellus Shale which create conflicting land use problems when drilling for natural gas.)
EIA Sees Higher Imports of LNG in 2010
“EIA expects U.S. net imports to be slightly higher in 2010 as a projected decline in pipeline imports is offset by lower exports and higher imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). While cold weather across the northern hemisphere has helped absorb some of the new LNG supply that has recently come on-stream, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by nearly 0.8 Bcf/d over last year in the first quarter 2010. For 2010 as a whole, U.S. LNG imports are forecast to increase by about 45 percent (or 0.56 Bcf/d). As global LNG demand and import capacity expand next year, EIA expects U.S. LNG imports to show little year-over-year growth in 2011. ” Quoted from the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook.
How Much Shale Gas at What Price?
Does the US have an unlimited supply of inexpensive natural gas from shale that will be quickly produced or will the resource be produced more slowly and sold for higher prices? An essay in the Financial Times explores this question.
