Current /NG:NMX Stock Info

NATURAL GAS INVENTORY (Week Ended 10/5/12)

Current: 3,725 Bcf
Actual Injection/(Withdrawal): 72 Bcf
Economist Average Estimate: 79 Bcf
Previous: 3,653 Bcf

Click here for the chart with five year averages.

NATURAL GAS IN THE MEDIA

*Houston firm drilling exploratory well in NY shale – Houston Chronicle

A Houston company has begun drilling a vertical well to explore the potential of the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation, joining about a dozen others probing the potentially lucrative rock beneath New York’s southern tier. Carizzo Oil & Gas recently started digging its first well north of the Tioga County village of Owego. The Houston-based energy company already has wells in the Eagle Ford and Barnett shale formations in Texas, as well as operations in Colorado, Ohio and the North Sea, Richard Hunter, Carizzo’s vice president of investor relations, said the exploratory well will determine whether the company pursues horizontal drilling. Horizontal high volume hydraulic fracturing isn’t permitted in New York. State regulators have been reviewing the highly polarizing issue for four years and could make a decision whether to allow it by the end of this year. – Read More

*EPA: Pavillion, Wyo., Natural-Gas Site Tests ‘Consistent’ With Earlier Data – Fox Business

New tests of water surrounding natural-gas drilling sites near Pavillion, Wyo., have turned up results that are “generally consistent” with earlier finds showing a link between contamination and hydraulic fracturing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday. The EPA’s announcement could be a blow to natural-gas company Encana Corp., which operates the Pavillion gas field and has routinely denied any link between compounds found in EPA’s two monitoring wells and its natural-gas drilling. Encana says EPA drilled its wells into a gas zone, which explains the presence of hydrocarbons. The company also says EPA has drawn improper conclusions from its data. “EPA has provided no sound scientific evidence that drilling has impacted domestic drinking water wells in the area,” Encana spokesman Doug Hock said. More broadly, the EPA tests fuel concerns about hydraulic fracturing and the risk it potentially poses to groundwater supplies. EPA has stressed, however, that Pavillion is unique and any evidence of contamination there shouldn’t be used as an indictment of hydraulic fracturing everywhere. The EPA also said Wednesday it would accept comments on its draft findings until January, extending a deadline that was slated to expire in October. – Read More

*DEP Approves First Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant in Pennsylvania – Sacramento Bee

The Department of Environmental Protection today issued an air quality plan approval to Moxie Liberty LLC of Vienna, Va., for construction of the first power plant in Pennsylvania to run on natural gas, including gas from the Marcellus Shale. The plant, which will generate up to 936 megawatts of electricity, will be built in Asylum Township, Bradford County, and create 500 construction jobs at its peak. “Today is a red-letter day for Pennsylvania,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “With this approval, Moxie now has all that it needs from DEP to move forward with the construction of this historic facility, which will use clean, pipeline-quality, locally produced natural gas as fuel.” The project consists of two power blocks, with each block including a combustion gas turbine and a steam turbine. Each combined cycle process will be able to generate up to 468 megawatts of electricity and will also include a heat recovery steam generator and supplemental duct burners. Waste heat from the two turbine generators will be converted to steam in two heat recovery generators and piped to the turbines. A large air-cooled condenser will convert the steam to condensed water that will be sent back to the heat recovery steam generators. – Read More

*Oil Industry Sues to Block Rule on Payments Abroad – WSJ

The oil industry sued to overturn a U.S. rule requiring companies to report their payments to foreign governments to develop oil and gas fields, arguing the information would provide valuable secrets to competitors. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulation, mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, aims to help people in oil-rich countries hold their government officials to account for the money the governments receive for oil and mineral rights. The American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and two other business groups argued in papers filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., Wednesday that the SEC exceeded its authority when it adopted the final rule in August and that it ignored companies’ suggestions for limiting the rule’s cost. The SEC is required by federal law to weigh the costs of its regulations. “It was a well-intentioned provision in the Dodd-Frank law, but the SEC just overstepped and went well beyond what was necessary to support transparency,” said American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard. He called the SEC’s approach “arbitrary and capricious.” – Read More

*Shale gas bonanza could extend to other industries – Houston Chronicle

The shale gas boom could cut costs significantly for the chemical industry and ultimately benefit the apparel, electronics, machinery and other industries, according to a report released Tuesday. The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers US suggests cheap natural gas liquids could even prompt some companies to move production back to the United States. It already has spurred an estimated $15 billion in new investments in Texas chemical plants, according to Hector Rivera, president and CEO of the Texas Chemical Council. Rivera said the rebound started as the nation began to recover from the recession. “Here in the United States, it has been a game-changer and has created an opportunity for a lot of companies to make new investments in the United States, as opposed to overseas markets where natural gas has historically been cheaper over the last 10 or 15 years,” he said. – Read More

*Buy a Honda Civic Natural Gas, get a $3,000 fuel card – Fox News

If you’ve been considering the purchase of a 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, now might be the time to sign on the dotted line. Honda, in conjunction with Clean Energy, is offering a $3,000 fuel card for the purchase of natural gas at any of Clean Energy’s natural gas filling stations. When natural gas already costs around $2 per gallon less than gasoline, that’s a lot of free miles. Honda says that could be enough for two or three years of free fuel driving–and of course, the 31 mpg Civic Natural Gas offers plenty of other benefits too. Not only are emissions from natural gas vehicles lower than those of other fuels, but most of the natural gas used in the U.S. is domestically produced–reducing those financial and political worries over foreign energy. As for the gas-powered Civic itself, it uses a modified version of the standard Civic’s 1.8-liter engine, producing 110 horsepower and 106 lb-ft of torque. – Read More

*Collectively Photographing Fracking – New York Times

The most basic thing that photography does is visually describe what can be seen. The problem facing photographers of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project is that what they wish to describe cannot be seen — an invisible gas buried deep underground. They have struggled to document the effect of the natural gas drilling commonly known as fracking. By now most Americans are familiar with the suggestive-sounding colloquialism; in states like Pennsylvania, which sit above shale rock formations awash in natural gas, the word resonates deeply. It is shorthand for hydraulic fracturing, and an abridged reference to the latest chapter in American resource extraction. Depending on whom you talk to, the word can signal the promise of new life (to a struggling dairy farmer, perhaps) or environmental destruction (to custodians of the state’s watershed). For those still vague on the details of what fracking actually means, it is a process of natural gas drilling in which millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals, some of them toxic, are pumped below ground to break up rock and release bubbles of gas stored inside. Since drilling began in the Marcellus Shale – a gas-rich rock formation that runs along the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to New York State – energy companies have taken vast quantities of natural gas from the earth and piped it to consumers, promoting it as clean domestic energy which can help wean America off foreign oil. In the meantime, growing complaints of water contamination around the United States have led to concerns that hydraulic fracturing poses grave risks to the health of humans and the environment. – Read More

*China Piped Gas Imperils $100 Billion LNG Plans: Energy Markets – Bloomberg

China is importing more natural gas by pipeline than sea for the first time, highlighting the risk to planned LNG projects costing at least $100 billion as buyers seek cheaper supplies. The country, which accounted for almost a quarter of Asia’s gas use last year, increased shipments from Turkmenistan, the provider of almost all its piped supplies, by 55 percent to 9.85 million metric tons in the first eight months of the year, customs data show. Liquefied natural gas purchases from nations including Australia and Qatar advanced 23 percent to 9.08 million tons and cost about 3 percent more than pipeline imports, even before the cost of regasification. China’s bill for LNG, gas cooled to a liquid and transported by tanker, has surged in the past four years as it feeds its booming economy and cuts reliance on more-polluting coal for power generation. The growing dependence on cheaper supplies by pipeline is threatening the viability of LNG projects planned by companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Woodside (WPL) Petroleum Ltd. that are waiting for investment approval, according to CLSA Ltd., a Hong Kong-based broker partly owned by France’s Credit Agricole SA. – Read More

*Gazprom to sell more LNG to South Korea’s KOGAS – Reuters

Gazprom said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), as it strengthens its position in Asian markets. Gazprom Marketing & Trading Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom (GAZP.MM), said it will supply up to eight cargoes of LNG a year to KOGAS in 2013 and 2014, totaling up to 1 million metric tonnes (1.1 million tons) over the two years. Gazprom already ships 1.6 million tonnes of LNG a year to KOGAS from its Sakhalin-2 project, which produces 10 million tonnes of LNG annually. Gazprom M&T would not necessarily sell Gazprom-produced gas but the contract could help it to secure a foothold in Asia, where it wants to sell gas from the giant fields of Eastern Siberia. – Read More

RESEARCH COMMENTARY

*CLSA (10.11.12)

The rebound in the price of gas has made things interesting again. Now that 2013 gas is flirting with $4/MMBtu, producers can’t blithely pass off gas-directed drilling anymore. They’re going to have to get a lot more specific about their capital allocation decisions. We’ve provided our current thinking on each company in our coverage group on the following pages; we updated our estimates for each and revised our target prices for NFX to $50 from $47 and Range Resources to $84 from $77. We would want to be long RRC and BBG going into earnings on both potential catalyst news flow and expected earnings beats. HES and APA look the least interesting to us in front of earnings.

2013 capital budgets/production growth

With Cal-13 gas now at $4.00/MMbtu the questions are: 1) are you now willing to hedge your gas; and 2) how close are you to putting rigs back to work in dry gas plays? If oil remains above $90/Bbl, we think there will be little incentive to return dry gas plays. Should oil fall to $80/Bbl, we think there will be very little cash flow to reallocate. Based upon the cash flow sensitivity of our coverage group, a fall in WTI from our current 2013 forecast of $95/Bbl to $80/Bbl would cut our cash flow estimates by 15%. We note that we believe the fall credit facility redetermination season is not likely to put a pinch on balance sheets. As happened in the spring, ongoing oil-directed activity is largely offsetting weak gas prices. We don’t expect banks to loosen gas pricing now that gas has bounced back to life, but we would think banks might be a little more forgiving than if gas were still at $2/MMbtu.

Updating estimates

We have trued up our models to reflect actual 3Q12 commodity prices (see Figure 12). Hurricane related shut-ins are likely to cause some noise for offshore and Gulf Coast producers. However, we do not believe that any storm-related miss would adversely impact stocks. What’s done is done. We are also taking the opportunity to raise our target prices on Newfield Exploration and Range Resources. Our target price for NFX goes up $3 to $50 following an update by Continental Resources on the southeast Anadarko Woodford play. NFX has 80,000 net acres in this part of the play, which appears to be a highly prospective oil resource. This corroborates the results that NFX has generated from its first six wells in the play. We have updated our NAV by $3 to $71 accordingly. We are increasing our target price on Range Resources by $7 to $84 for two reasons. Firstly, the company has inked an agreement to sell ethane via the Mariner East pipeline to INEOS Europe AG. Combined with other agreements, we now have more confidence in out-year ethane extraction. We are also increasingly confident in the prospectivity in the company’s exposure to the Utica in northwest PA. Previously, we had assigned little value to it.

20 estimates range from 72 Bcf to 98 Bcf

The median consensus estimate is a 78 Bcf injection. The five-year average change for this time of year is an 84 Bcf injection. Last year, inventories increased 108 Bcf. Last week, inventories increased 77 Bcf versus the consensus estimate of a 73 Bcf injection. There were 13 CDDs (cooling degree days) during the week ending 5 October compared to the five-year average of 27 CDDs, last year’s 13 CDDs and the prior week’s 29 CDDs. The EIA will release natural gas inventories Thursday at 10:30am followed by oil inventories at 11:00am due to the Columbus Day holiday.

*Wells Fargo Securities (10.11.12)

Summary. After much industry chatter around midstream constraints in the DJ Basin, we have taken a deeper dive into current and future capacities. What we found is increasing tightness in gas processing lasting through at least Q3 2013. In our view, APC is the best positioned to weather the continued tightness due to control of the midstream business through Western Gas. We believe other (covered) Wattenberg operators Noble, PDC, and Bill Barrett will have a difficult time expanding their drilling programs from here out. Because the Wattenberg is a major growth driver for these companies, we believe overall corporate growth could be limited by midstream next year. These companies are all likely to grow production in the basin next year, but overall, we think growth is likely to be at a slower pace than peers in other plays such as the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Permian. We really like the potential from the play longer term, but near- term infrastructure headwinds look too strong to ignore, in our view.

Gas Production Bumping Up Against Current Processing Capacity. Looking at basin wide production data, we see that gas volumes in the most recent month of actual data are approximately equal to current processing capacity. We believe processing will be a significant bottleneck for DJ Basin producers until incremental processing capacity is brought online in the back half of 2013 and early 2014. We expect tightness in gas midstream will have an inordinately large impact on legacy production due to well pressure differentials between new horizontal and legacy vertical production. Any unexpected events/downtime will likely exacerbate this issue making production look riskier to us.

Midstream Constraints Will Impact Production. We see very little opportunity for incremental rig adds in the Wattenberg. We estimate eleven additional rigs by September 2013 (to 45 from the 34 currently operating) will drive production above the 875 MMcf/d of current gas processing capacity. Admittedly, we are close to that now, and see only modest relief until DCP’s LaSalle plant comes on late next year. After that time, we see less potential for bottlenecks as 70 rigs would be needed to hit the 1,035 MMcf/d limit by YE2013.

Why Is The DJ Different First, unlike the Bakken, the composition of production requires gathering and processing infrastructure to be in place before a well can produce. Second, unlike the other major unconventional plays, there are only three major players driving growth: Anadarko, Noble, and PDC. One controls their midstream business (APC), leaving NBL, PDC, and others to battle it out for space on DCP’s system. Which leads to the next point: there is only one true third-party midstream operator in the basin, DCP, who controls nearly 85% of the remaining processing capacity in the basin. From DCP’s perspective, they currently have a de facto monopoly on gathering/processing in the basin and being long gas and NGL’s could be incentivized to drag their feet on incremental capacity in the face of low prices.

*Global Hunter Securities (10.11.12)

Summary: Canadian natural gas production has been in a steady decline since 2006, as the transition to shale gas production in the U.S. has made most conventional gas plays uneconomic. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) recently released Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook expects net imports into the U.S., excluding LNG, to only decline by approximately 0.2 Bcf/d in 2012. The majority of U.S. pipeline imports come from Canada, and examining this from the Canadian supply side makes us believe a bigger decline is in order. YTD Canadian production is down 0.4 Bcf/d and the last four months show YoY declines of 0.7-0.9 Bcf/d. Net Canadian exports are down 0.5 Bcf/d YTD and given well licensing activity and tepid investor interest we do not expect a robust winter drilling season in dry gas plays, though liquids-rich wells will provide a little supply. High gas storage levels in Canada and the U.S. have kept prices down, but as the first few flakes of snow fall in Calgary we are reminded that winter temperatures are on the way. A squeeze on inventories in 2013 would prompt better pricing and lead to some resurgence in gas activity in the second half of 2013.

Highlights

Canadian gas continues to be priced out of the market by low cost (and much better located) U.S. gas plays. With the efficiencies from multi-stage horizontal fracturing leading to many new U.S. plays, we would expect Canadian exports to continue declining. As shown in Exhibit 1 below, Canadian net exports to the U.S. fell in 2011 as cooler weather resulted in the consumption of more gas domestically. U.S. production climbed in 2012 and was more than able to supply the increased demand in that market. In 2013, residential demand will likely be higher if winter weather is more normal. And although the EIA forecasts U.S. natural gas production will be slightly higher than 2012 levels, we believe reduced Canadian production (down at least 0.5 Bcf/d) combined with a more normal winter (an extra 1-1.5 Bcf/d) will likely reduce exports to the U.S. by a material amount. A reduction of 1.0 Bcf/d to the U.S. and a reduction of 150 Bcf from Canadian storage (towards the bottom of the five-year range) is very possible, in our view.

*UBS Investment Research (10.11.12)

3Q production beats guidance & UBSe on better than expected NGLs.  3Q production of 790 MMcfed was above UBSe of 778 MMcfed, consensus of 776 MMcfed and the guidance range of 773-778 MMcfed due primarily to stronger than expected NGLs. Production rose 47% YoY and 10% QoQ. 3Q average price realizations of $4.88/Mcfe were in line with our forecast. We increased our 3Q EPS/CFPS from $0.16/$1.11 to $0.17/$1.13, in line with consensus of $0.17/$1.14.

Increases 2013-2014 hedge volumes.  RRC increased its gas hedges from ~58% to 64% of 2013E production and its crude hedges from 81% to 85%. It also increased 2014 gas hedges from 28% to 49% of volumes, albeit at a lower price with a floor of $3.77/MMBtu.

Expect 2012 production guidance raise, but investor focus is on 2013 outlook.  We raised2012E production  growth to 36.4% from 35%, and expect RRC to raise ‘12 guidance of +35% with 3Q results. Our 2012-13E CFPS estimates increased a nickel to $4.45 & $6.05 while EPS remained unchanged at $0.70 & $1.30. Investor focus is on the 2013 capex and growth outlook, which RRC will disclose in January: UBSe assumes 25% production growth on $1.4 billion in capex vs consensus’ 22% growth & $1.55 billion. Given ‘13E cash flow of $1 billion& RRC’s goal to keep debt/EBITDX<3.2x, the 3Q call will highlight 2013E asset sales to enable a robust 2013E capex budget.

Valuation: premium to peers on EV/EBITDX and price/NAV.  Our $67 price target, 0.9x NAV assuming current NYMEX strip prices.

*Wells Fargo Securities (10.10.12)

Regardless of November’s Outcome, Washington May Target Oil & Gas (Tameron/Douthat). During a campaign debate Monday night, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) made clear that he is open to removing incentives for oil and gas production. Responding to a statement about energy subsidies, Upton said ”I’m for putting all of these on an even footing. Let’s look at the oil and gas subsidies, let’s take them away. Let’s let them compete just like everyone else at the same level.” Perhaps candidates are caught up in the throes of the election season, but these statements and those of both Presidential candidates lead us to believe that fundamental changes to oil and gas tax treatment may be in store. We expect this discussion will be present for the remainder of the campaign as energy becomes an increasingly prominent issue in this election, particularly in energy producing swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and New Mexico. That said, with nearly 90% of oil and gas campaign contributions going to Republicans, we expect that the industry may still find some support on Capitol Hill.

NBL and CRZO: Neutral – Read-Through on NBL North Sea Sale (Tameron). On Tuesday morning, Ithaca Energy announced its $38.5MM agreement to acquire NBL’s 12.89% interest in the RDSA operated Cook field operated and a 14% interest in the COP operated MacCulloch fields. Current net production is 1.1 Mboe/d, largely crude with reserves of 3.4 MMboe. We estimate this equates to $35,000/Boe/d and $11.30/Boe for reserves.

More meaningful to us, the transaction tells us that there is an appetite for non-operated North Sea assets. CRZO is currently awaiting a December earnest money deposit from the high bidder for its 15% interest in the North Sea Huntington Field. The presumed buyer is working to secure financing. If nothing else, the NBL transaction may confirm the current fair market value in the eyes of a lender. Although we think it’s 50/50 that the deal gets done, at $35,000/Boe/d implied total proceeds are ~$150MM.

*Bank of America Merrill Lynch (10.10.12)

Low NGL feed costs, higher crude continue to drive profits

We expect US petrochemical companies to post solid 3Q results, albeit somewhat below 2Q when benchmark ethylene margins set a record. Two factors continue to support margins in what has become a “new normal” environment for US producers: (1) natural gas liquid (NGL) ethane feedstock cost remains inexpensive leading to low US ethylene production cost; while (2) lofty oil prices with Brent crude ~$115/bbl supports higher selling prices for ethylene and derivatives. Sales volumes also improved in 3Q after a slow start to the year. The outlook for 4Q margins is also stable with upside potential from higher selling prices for PE resin, and downside risk from the rising cost of propane, which is approaching $1.00/bbl after having averaged $0.89/gal in 3Q.

We see a steady course for US margins through year end

Overall, we expect US PE resin producers to post healthy 3Q profits at a level below 2Q but above 1Q. US integrated PE margins dipped ~$0.04/lb q-q to $0.27/lb in 3Q from $0.31/lb in 2Q. This decline reflects lower average selling prices for polyethylene and key ethylene co-products, propylene and butadiene. In the US contract market prices stayed flat in September. Looking ahead, we expect US contract PE resin prices to rise $0.03/lb in October, although a rollover is also possible as the US price run is beginning to look rather extended relative to the rest of the world. On balance, we see only modest downside risk to margins in 4Q given potential for PE price increases and well-behaved feedstock costs.

Ethane production declines; inventory remains comfortable

Ethane production in July (most recent) declined 2% m-m to 891kbpd, a fifth consecutive monthly decline. Ethane stocks sank 79 kbpd in July, the largest inventory drawdown since August 2010, yet ethane inventory is comfortable so imminent cost pressure appears unlikely. Elsewhere, propane is rising in typical seasonal fashion, and could again test the $1.00/gal mark. US propane inventories remain above the high end of the 5-year range, but a normal winter could reduce propane inventories closer to historical averages.

European margins compress in 3Q; 4Q looks better

Having spiked nearly $0.20/lb in 2Q, European integrated margins gave back most of this windfall, declining ~$0.15/lb q-q in 3Q to a level that is still above the recent low of 1Q12. European margins troughed in July and improved meaningfully by September, so the trend is positive entering 4Q.

We raise LYB and WLK and trim DOW estimates

Herein we adjust estimates and POs for three US petrochemical producers. For LYB, we raise our 3Q EPS estimate by $0.10 to $1.43. Our 2012 estimate rises $0.15 to $5.15, while we increase our PO by $1 to $55. For Dow, we lower our 2012 and 2013 estimates by $0.05 to $2.00 and $2.50 respectively. Our PO goes to $31 from $32. We maintain our estimate of $0.39 for 3Q. For WLK, we raise our 2012 and 2013 EPS estimates by $0.20 to $5.50 and $5.90, respectively, with $1.31E for 3Q. Our PO goes to $61 from $58.

*Barclays (10.10.12)

Conversation with Tim VandenBerg: As part of our recent U.S. Public Policy Outlook conference, we discussed key regulatory and legislative issues facing the energy industry in the context of the Presidential election with Tim VandenBerg of Washington Analysis. In addition to his work at Washington Analysis, Mr. VandenBerg has served as a Senior Legislative Aide and committee staff in Congress and is well positioned to analyze the intersection of politics, policy, and energy. Key takeaways from our discussion with Mr. VandenBerg include: 1) there is more scope for energy reform (regardless of the election outcome) through regulatory maneuvers rather than legislative changes; and 2) his belief that President Obama and Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney are “closer than you think” on many aspects of energy policy.

“More Ambition than Ability” Expected for Energy Under Romney: Mr. VandenBerg believes there is limited potential for material change to energy policy near term in a Romney Administration. Opening new areas for offshore drilling has been a key differentiator for the Romney campaign; however, Mr. VandenBerg believes it is unlikely the Eastern GOM (the most attractive closed basin in his view) will be easily reopened as congressional approval is needed to overturn the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. Regarding permitting, he believes Mr. Romney would attempt to speed up and streamline the pace of Federal issuances but believes this would be difficult due to various impediments including the Endangered Species Act and extensive rules and guidelines finalized by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). A place VandenBerg believes Romney could make an impact is on tax reform, as he sees less concern that various tax benefits for oil companies would be repealed. Further, he thinks there is greater potential for comprehensive corporate tax reform under Romney.

Deferred Energy Issues Could be Addressed if Mr. Obama is Re-elected: The Obama Administration has “punted” on a number of critical energy issues, in Mr. VandenBerg’s view, but he thinks these and other reforms would likely be addressed in a second term. Fracking fluid disposal would be more heavily regulated by the EPA, in VandenBerg’s opinion. A bias toward supporting renewables would continue; however, Mr. VandenBerg thinks the administration’s ability to endorse specific technologies (often viewed as “choosing winners”) will be impaled in the wake of the Solyndra bankruptcy, posing potential roadblocks to the proliferation of various capital intensive “clean technologies”, including natural gas vehicles.

Surprising Amount of Common Ground: Mr. VandenBerg believes there are several issues in which Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama agree, including: 1) support for LNG exports; 2) allowing Arctic drilling; 3) embracing nuclear power; 4) maintaining subsidies for ethanol; and 5) new regulations for blow out preventers (BOPs), although under Mr. Romney new regulations would likely be less onerous for the industry.

Important disclosures: The information provided herein is believed to be reliable; however, EnerCom, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to its completeness or accuracy. EnerCom’s conclusions are based upon information gathered from sources deemed to be reliable.  This note is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or financial instrument of any company mentioned in this note.  This note was prepared for general circulation and does not provide investment recommendations specific to individual investors. All readers of the note must make their own investment decisions based upon their specific investment objectives and financial situation utilizing their own financial advisors as they deem necessary. Investors should consider a company’s entire financial and operational structure in making any investment decisions. Past performance of any company discussed in this note should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of future results.  EnerCom is a multi-disciplined management consulting services firm that regularly intends to seek business, or currently may be undertaking business, with companies covered on Oil & Gas 360®, and thereby seeks to receive compensation from these companies for its services.  In addition, EnerCom, or its principals or employees, may have an economic interest in any of these companies.  As a result, readers of EnerCom’s Oil & Gas 360® should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this note.  The company or companies covered in this note did not review the note prior to publication.


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