by Elijah » Thu 04 Aug 2005, 14:32:38
we may feel a shortage accutely even before there really is one.
It may be starting. Here's a note from a small producer explaining how he's better off banking his natural gas in the ground while prices rise.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hay laugh in my face but I know that the crying is going on behind closed doors at the local buyers of our NG. I just curtailed deliveries to Union Carbide, Oramet, OSI, and Chevron as the price rise in future months dictates more to be made by keeping the gas in the ground. I tried, unsuccessfully to have these guys commit to a longer term pricing structure a couple months ago but they laughed at my predictions of double digit NG in the next year. I told them that I'm now predicting a spike to 13 or higher if heat persists and it is a normal to cold winter this year. They are laughing harder now again. Just finished speaking to the head of the Cabot Carbon black facility across the river, a good friend, and he told me that the word has travelled that NG might have to be purchased from Dominion along the river as supply is getting harder to buy from producers. We will be negotiating a contract next week for some gas to come from the wellhead to his facility at a slightly higher BTU adjusted pricing than the strip but guaranteed till next spring. He is not laughing and is smart enough to make sure of supply to be able to supply product to Goodyear at a price that he can still pass on.
As the old saying goes, It he who laughs last and with pricing going much higher in future years I know who that is gonna be. As other producers start to realize that they are sitting on gold mines , so to speak in the ground, and they do not need the extra cashflow anymore, nor can they prudently spend it as the shortages of rigs, services, equipment, labor gets more acute they could eventually realize that the wealth is created through not producing at maximum but being able to produce when others cannot due to depletion effects IMHO. Right now the price appreciation exceeds the depletion rates of the reserves so why sell your golden goose for cash that is gonna be worth less going forward IMO...