What will the gas industry look like in 2020 and beyond?

Will there be another boom for the gas industry and what will it look like?   Who will the gas company survivors be?   Will Range Resources, CNX Resources, EQT and others still be like what we know them to be now?   

Views: 1519

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan on October 1, 2019 at 1:51am

You are right Granddad Ladd,

I shouldn’t have taken the low road.   I also want GMS to once again be an informative forum filled with thought provoking discussions that folks want to enter.  It has been quite awhile since a new discussion hasn’t been immediately hijacked with rambling conspiracy theories.  This is not the GMS of years back.

Permalink Reply by Bullfrex on October 1, 2019 at 8:16am

My opinion for 2020 and beyond is varied, depending on Politics (a real surprise, huh?), and the traction or lack thereof of the Anti fossil fuel gang.

Democrats oppose (now, at least) any further use of FFs, yet they fail to embrace the one true difference-maker in Nuclear Energy for electrification....this makes no sense to me. If the Democrats take the Presidency and retain the House, I am afraid you will see E&P retraction in new infrastructure, for a time at least.

It appears that the Climate Change Alarmists are starting to lose some ground worldwide, as renewable investment has nosedived in 2019.....it just does not work!

Natural Gas is the perfect bridge fuel, and makes sense for the world to embrace it. If that occurs, things might improve for NG, but I fear the glut of production will keep prices low for the foreseeable future. Not optimistic.

Permalink Reply by Kyle Nuttall on October 2, 2019 at 1:51am

Take my opinion with a grain of salt big enough to move with a bulldozer because the only constant in oil and gas is change.  Right now I don't see another real boom coming along.  Horizontal fracking has made it too easy to bring product to market.  Consequently, when the price climbs production doesn't lag far behind.  The price won't climb for long before production overtakes it and drives the price back down.  Prices also won't completely bottom out for long because companies will go bankrupt or sell their assets or shut-in wells.

The easiest way to tell who is going to survive a downturn is to look at how much debt a company has.  It's not the only determining factor, of course, but the companies with way too much debt just don't survive.

I don't think we can tell who's going to be around for another year or two and who won't.  Most of the companies operating today made it through 2014 and learned some lessons from that downturn.  There will always be some M&A action to shake things up, but I'm not deep enough into that side of the business to know who's going to do what.

Permalink Reply by farmgas on October 2, 2019 at 2:12am

 Kyle, I agree your comments seem to reflect what the future holds for the gas industry.  It seems to me that gas companies will anticipate their production needs to satisfy financial obligations, and only drill new wells and shut them in, and only open them up as needed.  In essence, keeping an inventory of wells to be used as needed. Unless there is a large increase in market demand there doesn`t appear to be much incentive to drill new wells and glut the market again.   Does that sound accurate?   So, which companies can sustain that type of business model?   Will it promote a few large scale companies or a group of smaller ones?

Permalink Reply by Kyle Nuttall on October 2, 2019 at 3:47am

Pretty much.  They will always be drilling new wells.  Any time they get a capital infusion it will go to the drilling program.  The old wells really drop off quickly in terms of production, so they constantly have to bring new wells online to replace the "lost" production.  They do keep quite a few wells in Drilled but UnCompleted status (DUC wells), but those are going to be brought online at some point.  The number of DUCs in the Marcellus shale region has gone down this year.  Again, I'm not sure which companies will make it through and which won't.  I just don't have the financial and leadership details on each company.

Permalink Reply by Inchworm antenna on October 2, 2019 at 2:58pm

 I think the private innovative lean companies will take the cake.

Permalink Reply by Gail Powers on November 2, 2019 at 12:09am

Kyle I was wondering if you can give me some answers or advice? Approximately 10 years ago, when the so called gas rush was going on I attempted to take my grandmother estate to probate. There was 8 on her will including me since I was adopted. There was three deceased children that was not mentioned on the will, that I understand their children are still heirs. I’m the only living direct heir left, so I think my issues is the fact I was adopted and really a cousin to all the now living heirs, yet I was listed on the will as a child and would get ⅛. I believe that has made many unhappy. Not my fault by any means. She owned 46-48 aces of mineral rights in Upshur County Union Elmore district. Sand run or something like that. I believe Laurel Fork is mentioned. Years ago her family owned both the land and the minerals eights and the land was divided and sold. Woody Lumber Company is the land owner where a well well was drilled back in the late 70’s early 80’s, and I believe that was EQT who did the drilling. I received royalty check back then. That well we were told dried up and is now capped. I’m presently in Cambodia and don’t have the paper work here to know the exact location. So I may not be totally correct on the location of it. She died in 1979 and around 1983-1984 her one daughter did apply for probate but it never was completed, why no one seems to know. The county clerk is the one who told me this and she didn’t even know. There was no statute of limitations. I hired one lawyer and he didn’t do anything so I fired him and found a new one and approximately 13 family members went to WV to talk with this new lawyer. We all liked him and thought he would do the job for us, yet he has done nothing as far as probate is concerned. We as a family just do not understand why we can’t get a lawyer to take this to probate and some of them are getting really upset being suspicious that possibly I’ve done something. Yet I did not! The county clerk told me we didn’t need a lawyer and said anyone could take it to probate as long a we could signatures of the family to do so. She said there are probate lawyers we can get for a reasonable price, and said she would me a almost if I wanted her to. I attempted to get the signatures and only received 5 back and there is now around 38 possible heirs. We are having a family reunion in August and we will be meeting with just the legal heirs to discuss this and I’ve ask them to vote on someone we all can trust to be bonded and sworn in so we can get this done and over with. The taxes are being paid, so that good. How is the present climate for natural gas drilling in Upshur County? Thank you for any help you can give. GP.

RSS

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service