Barclays is forecasting a long-term US natural gas price of $4.75 per million Btu, asserting that the $4.50-$5.00/MMBtu range is the golden mean that can both drive demand growth and ensure sufficient supply. “Natural gas prices at $4.50-5.00/MMBtu are high enough to motivate sufficient gas drilling to meet projected demand in the long run: a… Keep reading →
Natural gas vehicles will need “strong regulatory support” to provide a meaningful boost to US gas demand in this decade, owing in part to a dearth of refueling infrastructure, says Barclays analyst Shiyang Wang. Natural gas is far cheaper on an energy-equivalent basis than diesel, offering an obvious incentive to make the switch from a… Keep reading →
Changing oil market dynamics appear set to reduce the wide price differential between Brent crude oil and WTI that developed within the past few years, the Energy Information Administration said in its latest Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook. These global benchmark crude oil grades are also expected to generally decrease in price from the averages seen last year, while US natural gas prices move well above the historic lows recorded last April.
“EIA expects that the Brent crude oil spot price, which averaged $112 per barrel in 2012 and rose to $119 per barrel in early February 2013, will average $108 per barrel in 2013 and $101 per barrel in 2014. The projected discount of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to Brent, which increased to a monthly average of more than $20 per barrel in February 2013, is forecast to average $14 per barrel in 2013 and $9 per barrel in 2014, as planned new pipeline capacity lowers the cost of moving midâ€Âcontinent crude oil to the Gulf Coast refining centers,” the EIA said in the report. Keep reading →
Offshore wind energy has been challenging to develop in the US despite significant promise and comparative access on the East Coast to major load centers. Finding financing is a perennial challenge for renewable energy projects of all kinds, making Cape Wind‘s recent announcement it had finalized an agreement with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to lead its commercial bank financing marks a more significant step in developing the planned 468 MW wind farm than it at first appears.
Barclays remains the project’s financial advisor, and Ted Roosevelt IV, the managing director there, called the agreement with the Japanese bank a “significant step toward achieving financial close.” Keep reading →
The largest energy services companies are set to benefit from a focus on oil drilling in the US as the shale oil boom in North America continues, analysts at Barclays claim, even as drilling for natural gas in shale – largely an “efficiency game” – becomes commoditized.
Much has been made of the boom in development of both oil and natural gas fields in the US, stemming from advances in the efficiency and deployment of hydraulic fracturing. That technological advance has created a price dynamic that weighs on the very industry that has taken advantage of it, while comparatively high global oil prices have made drilling for crude – a more complicated business – more attractive. Keep reading →
Federal officials are expected to slap a Deutsche Bank AG (DB) subsidiary with a $1.5 million penalty in coming days after concluding that its energy-trading arm extracted illicit profits from the California electricity marketplace in 2010. The action, which people with knowledge of the case said could come as soon as Tuesday, is part of a larger crackdown by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission targeting electricity-trading schemes that it says resemble the market manipulations that caused California’s energy crisis more than a decade ago. Other banks being investigated for alleged electricity market-manipulation tactics include Barclays PLC (BCS) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM). They are contesting the allegations.
Sustained growth in spending on exploration and production across the globe will focus on plays outside North America, a survey from a global bank concludes, despite the country’s growing profile and its potential to become the top global crude producer in coming decades.
Global exploration-and-production spending is poised to reach a record $644 billion by the end of 2013, a semi-annual Barclays analysis predicts. The spending report also foresees strong oil prices, which have emerged as the principal bellwether for growth in E&P budgets. Keep reading →
The major investment banks remain heavily engaged in the energy markets, hedging fuel prices and even producing energy for their own or their clients’ benefit. But Brad Hintz, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. research analyst who tracks the investment banking and securities industries, told Breaking Energy that the big banks are also positioning themselves for potential regulatory changes which will force the launch of a national carbon-trading market.
“Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays are all major energy traders,” Hintz observed. “They are the banking giants in that space, and they – along with the commodities exchanges – provide the risk management services needed to balance demand and supply in the global energy markets.” Keep reading →
The global fleet of ultra-deepwater oil rigs was increasing steadily until April 2010, when regulatory aftershocks from BP’s Macondo disaster slowed its overall growth rate. But now, two years after the Gulf spill, there are indications that drilling in the ultra-deep could be poised for a long-term surge.
One of the key indicators is rig demand. And a Barclays equity research report says oil companies are clamoring for rigs designed to operate in water depths of 7,500 feet or more – the generally accepted threshold for the ultra-deep space. Keep reading →
With natural gas competing more strongly than ever with coal for power generation due to near commodity price parity, the mergers and acquisitions market for utilities has entered rarely charted territory.
Of the coal or natural gas utility merger and acquisition deals done in the last 18 months, there were probably 10 times that amount worked on but not closed, John Dingle, Partner at management consulting firm Thorndike Landing told the Platts Utility M&A Conference held June 25th – 26th in New York. Keep reading →
