Coming Next Month
March 2021
Long before one of the most prolonged breakdowns in the Arctic’s polar vortex had begun pushing frigid air south all the way to the Gulf Coast, talk of a commodity super cycle was underway. The jarring effects in Texas certainly showed Mother Nature’s mean streak. Yet, Raymond James and EBW Analytics had already sounded the alarm in the January AOGR: increased demand coupled with accelerating depletion could result in a significant price upswing in 2021. Enter Goldman Sachs this week with an exclamation-point projection of $70 crude by spring and $75 this summer.
March 2021 AOGR
Natural Gas Strategies
The late-winter cold streak across most of the country was a stark reminder that weather remains the ultimate trump card in natural gas markets. But while weather-related demand creates short-term price movements, it is the shift in long-term fundamentals that matter. AOGR checks in with analysts to get an update on the infrastructure connecting supply to market centers, and delves into the drilling and completion strategies of mainstay Haynesville Shale players who have been remarkably resilient.
Capital Revisited
Private equity and banks have their clamps on tight. But higher prices are changing the metrics. Even while shale players and smaller independents work to restore shut-in production, they are eyeing new potential. ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy have announced double-digit increases in capital budgets, and Continental’s 21 percent CAPEX hike includes purchasing thousands of Powder River acres. AOGR looks at why new funds focused on high-value assets and disciplined management teams are giving industry new life, and feature an independent start-up’s capital formation finesse.
Resource Science
Getting shut-in production back online, enhancing productivity, and improving shale EURs are all front-and-center objectives. The March AOGR looks at conveying coiled tubing to deploy purpose-designed chemicals to boost production, and new completion chemistry to keep wells performing at peak levels. Guest authors deliver cutting-edge techniques to diagnose completion parameters and evaluate stimulation efficiency stage by stage in real time, while other experts reveal new analytics to improve the efficiency of infill development.