Tough Times for Western Canada Gas Producers

摘要

Prices are uniformly higher across North America as winter gives a boost to heating loads,the No.1 demand driver.Henry Hub prices averaged $2.64 per million Btu in November,a solid 420 gain.But nowhere were producers breathing a bigger sigh of relief than Western Canada as a brutal spring and summer comes to an end.Benchmark prices at Alberta's Aeco hub averaged $2.03/MMBtu last month as regional demand ramped up,but,more important,spring-summer maintenance on TC Energy's Nova Gas Transmission Ltd.(NGTL)system came to an end.But it won't be long before the industry falls back into distress,caused by persistent pipeline constraints and lack of viable markets for its supply,especially for LNG exports that may not come for another five years when Royal Dutch Shell's LNG Canada begins operations.