Crude outlook: smoother ride, micro is (almost) back

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Barring an exogenous event, such as the development of a new COVID-19 variant, a pipeline hack, an armed conflict, etc, world oil markets will likely be characterized by low volatility and relatively stable prices for the rest of 2021. While world crude demand is rising on vaccination successes, crude supply… Read more »

Natural gas markets: 2021 will likely be tight

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Natural gas risks are largely to the upside and gas markets will likely be tight for the remainder of the year. We’ve said for a while that Henry Hub prices may be undervalued and the forward strip is starting to reflect that optimism: HH futures at this writing exceed $3/MMBtu… Read more »

Coal is back, but for how long?

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Natural gas’ most important competitor for baseload demand, coal, is experiencing a recovery of sorts. U.S. coal production and consumption, along with electricity demand, are rising as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. While the U.S. coal industry faces immense, probably insurmountable obstacles in the medium and long-terms, coal will continue to… Read more »

Is Mont Belvieu NGL Fractionation Overbuilt?

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“Mont Belvieu fractionation capacity is not overbuilt – it is ahead of its time by few quarters.” At least, that is what one executive from a midstream company with a frac and storage position at Mont Belvieu told me in a recent conversation. While he was directionally correct, he was… Read more »

NGPL Gets a New Partner

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On February 22, Kinder Morgan and Brookfield sold a 25% stake in their Chicago-to-USGC NGPL pipeline to ArcLight Capital Partners for $830 million. In this article, we discuss two key drivers behind NGPL’s current and future demand: natural gas demand in the Midwest and the USGC. NGPL distributes gas to… Read more »