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Permalink Reply by Dexter Green on April 12, 2015 at 1:12pm

"Did the gas companies foresee the decline in natural gas prices as a direct result of all the production?"

Everyone knew that low prices were inevitable with a glut of supple.  

"With the price so low, how are they making any big profits?"

They're not making big profits.  Most of them are not making any profits.

"What is the long term outlook/will things rebound?"

Companies with solid balance sheets and non-junk debt to service will survive.  There has to be some contraction before this is all over but the long term outlook is not bad for some of the players.  Right now coal and natural gas are the two major commodities that fuel the engine of American manufacturing and power generation.  Until solar can find a way to be scalable--and frankly cheaper--there's a positive outlook for natural gas in the near to medium term.  But a price rebound could take years.  Prices stayed below $3.00 for most of the 1990's and didn't start to creep up until early 2000.  Even then the price didn't rise above $5.00 and sustain that level until December 2003.  From there it held above technical support levels until the financial crisis.  My point is, I suppose, that nobody knows anything.  Everyone's guessing.

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