“It would be a viable option if someone were to take up the battle to pursue exporting more gas out of the U.S.”

Will U.S. gas-storage centers and pipelines be overfull in coming months? Will pipelines have to turn producers away?

This isn’t an exaggeration, says Justin Carlson, senior energy analyst for Denver-based energy-research firm Bentek Energy LLC, in the Aug. 20 webinar “The Haynesville Bottom Line: Leasing, Take-Away, Well Results” now available for viewing on demand.

“Right now, we estimate that, on a daily basis, (the U.S. is) more than 2 Bcf/day long on gas. We are building storage at 2 Bcf a day. From a pure inventory standpoint, we don’t have the capacity to take that much gas. We don’t have anywhere to put it. Nor do we have a demand market to absorb that gas....”

Will an improved U.S. economy deplete the excess? “At 2 Bcf long a day, I don’t think even an economic turnaround is enough demand to help absorb the excess gas we have.

“(For the) Haynesville producers or Fayetteville producers or any of the big shale producers—or if you want to go all the way to the Granite Wash and down to the Eagle Ford—drill times and efficiencies have gotten so good that it is simply a manufacturing process.

“It’s (a) gas on demand (supply market) and we can produce it fairly quick to meet any incremental demand from the market.”

Could this excess natural gas be exported? “Certainly that’s an option, but there are some barriers to that. There is a lot of red tape to get through. We have Kitimat (LNG import) facility in (British Columbia) Canada that will start doing it. The Louisiana facility at Sabine Pass and the facility at Freeport, Texas, will start re-exporting gas that is brought in or they have authorization to export a limited amount.

“We’ve got a lot of gas here. I don’t know the total U.S. reserves, but we certainly have a lot of gas and it would be a viable option if someone were take up the battle to pursue exporting more gas out of the U.S., but then you’re competing with a lot of other countries (to sell this gas to other) demand markets.

“I don’t know the exact amount of LNG (export) capacity expected to come online in the next several years, but it’s a lot, so the U.S. would be competing with a market that’s flooded with a lot of LNG out there.”

The Aug. 20 webinar including Carlson’s remarks, along with remarks by DrillingInfo’s Ramona Hovey on Haynesville leasing and by Object Reservoir’s Dr. Joel Walls on Haynesville drilling results, is now available on demand at OilandGasInvestor.com: “The Haynesville Bottom Line: Leasing, Take-Away, Well Results.”

--Nissa Darbonne

–Nissa Darbonne (ndarbonne@hartenergy.com), E-Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, A&D Watch, Oil and Gas Investor This Week, OilandGasInvestor.com Today, OilandGasInvestor.com, A-Dcenter.com, UGcenter.com.