A January rally in U.S. gas futures that was on course to be the best for that time of year since 1994 fizzled in the final two days of the month as mild winter forecasts cast gloom on the demand outlook. But investors had already began dumping natural gas stocks, spooked by the specter of a glut later this year.

More than $7 billion in market value has been wiped out so far this year for the eight biggest U.S. gas producers that don’t also pump significant amounts of crude, according to calculation by Bloomberg. Among the hardest hit have been Southwestern Energy Co., Gulfport Energy Corp. and Range Resources Corp., which have been mauled to the tune of 33%, 30% and 25%, respectively, since the end of 2017.

In a matter of months, swelling output from Pennsylvania gas wells is expected to smash head-on into a growing quantity of the fuel from West Texas fields where it’s a byproduct of oil production. Shipments of the fuel to Mexico and other foreign markets isn’t growing fast enough to absorb burgeoning output from shale fields with names like the Marcellus, the Eagle Ford and the Permian.

Ground zero for the clash of competing supplies will be the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to the nation’s first gas-export facility as well as onshore pipelines that haul gas across the Rio Grande to Mexican buyers. Drillers who ramped up production in anticipation of a demand-driven price spike along the Gulf may be facing a starkly different reality.

Evolving markets

“Those premium markets stop becoming premium markets as more gas starts flowing there,” Scott Hanold, energy analyst at RBC Capital Markets LLC in Minneapolis, said by phone. “That’s just the natural evolution of how things go.”

A representative from Range declined to comment and a spokesperson from Gulfport was not immediately available.

"A robust hedging program" and a commitment to "rigorous financial discipline" will help Southwestern weather the storm of a lower commodity price environment, Bill Way, chief executive officer, said in an emailed statement. The driller "will continue to keep long-term value creation the primary objective for our shareholders."

For years, drillers in the U.S. Northeast were hemmed in and unable to fully access population centers and points of export because of insufficient pipeline capacity. With demand for the furnace and power-plant fuel expected to almost double by 2020 in some parts of the Gulf Coast, pipeline operators are furiously building new lines to connect the Marcellus shale in Appalachia to richer markets.

But timing couldn’t be worse: As soon as much of that Pennsylvania gas reaches Louisiana and Texas, it’ll be competing with loads of the fuel pumped from West Texas and the ensuing fight for market share seems likely to squeeze prices.

http://www.worldoil.com/news/2018/2/6/promised-land-for-gas-driller...