Natural Gas Daily: October 23rd, 2020

TRUMP, BIDEN CLASH OVER OIL & GAS POLICY

US president Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden locked horns over oil and gas policy in final presidential debate on October 22, with some Democrats distancing themselves from the former vice president's comment that he would transition the country away from the oil industry.

Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. ngc.co.tt

• The oil and gas sector is in a state of crisis – more the oil sector than gas – and this will continue until demand and prices recover. And even then, there is great uncertainty that oil demand will ever return to pre-Covid-19 levels. 

HAYWOOD CAPITAL BULLISH ON CANADIAN GAS

The door giving Canada’s natural gas sector access to new capital may not be closed as firmly as some have suggested, according to Haywood Capital’s Q4/20 commodity price update released October 21.

• "Canadian producers like Spartan Delta, Birchcliff Energy, Pine Cliff Energy and Pieridae Energy (which is developing the 10mn mt/yr Goldboro LNG project on Canada’s east coast) are well-positioned to benefit – Pieridae shares are targeted to increase by 100%, to C$1.10 from C$0.55", the update says.

EDISON, ENAGAS TEAM UP IN SMALL-SCALE LNG

Spain's infrastructure operator Enagas and Italy's Edison have agreed to work together in developing small-scale LNG in the Mediterranean region, the companies said.

• Edison, owned by French energy group EDF, will sell a 19% stake in Depositi Italiani GNL, a joint venture it set up with Petrolifera Italo Rumena (PIR) to build a small-sized LNG plant in Ravenna in northern Italy, to Enagas subsidiary Scale Gas Solutions. 

• At 40% Italy has the highest ratio of gas use as a proportion of primary energy supply in Europe, and, despite demand last year being 15% below peak use in 2005, the country is increasingly dependent on gas imports.

   

EQT REPORTS Q3 LOSS, SAID INTERESTED IN CNX

EQT Corp, the largest natural gas producer in the US, said October 22 it had a net loss of $601mn in Q3 2020, against a $361mn loss in the comparable period a year ago.

• In the wake of its quarterly earnings release, EQT – a major Marcellus producer with more than 1mn net acres in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio – was said to be pursuing CNX Resources, a pure-play natural gas producer also with widespread Appalachian assets and production of about 1.4bn ft3/day.

• Deal-making activity is fairly muted now, but shale gas assets are still changing hands in North America nonetheless.