Producers stung by NGL slump

摘要

US upstream independents that have relied on natural gas liquids (NGLs) to support profits amid a collapse in dry gas prices are facing a deteriorating NGL market. New pipelines have increased NGL transportation capacity out of the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas and the Permian basin in west Texas, glutting inventories at the Mont Belvieu NGL hub on the US Gulf coast. Delays in export projects have exacerbated the oversupply problem. Ethane at Mont Belvieu sold for less than dry gas at times last month, relative to the energy content of each commodity. Ethane traded 64pc lower than a year earlier this week and was at 10pc of US crude benchmark WTI on 4 January. Propane this month has sold for around 38pc of WTI, down from 56pc a year earlier. Gas futures are currently priced at about 20pc of the value of WTI on the Nymex exchange.