While many in the power industry and energy consumers are grateful for the plummeting prices of natural gas, the news has proven far worse for gas exploration and production companies. The Houston Chronicle reports that many of the country's gas producers are scaling back their operations to focus on higher value resources.
With the massive surge in natural gas production from the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing and the recent lull in demand created by an unusually mild winter, natural gas prices have slumped from above $4 per million British thermal units to below $3 per million Btu.
''As it got below $4, you heard some grumbling,'' Robert Ineson, head of the North American gas research group IHS CERA, told the Chronicle. ''But when it got below $3, you saw things change pretty quickly.''
Beginning with Chesapeake Energy, numerous energy companies have begun to shut down natural gas developments that only produce less profitable dry gas. All told, the country has 780 natural gas rigs in operation, a 14 percent decline from the same time last year.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the problem is unlikely to be resolved soon, with the country on course to hit a 13-year low in gas prices, in large part because of the large stocks in storage.
PennEnergy's Research area offers prospects for the natural gas industry in coming years.
