IHS CERA North American Natural Gas Advisory Service

North American Natural Gas advisory service helps you discover opportunities and mitigate risk in the continental natural gas market. Our experts combine their cutting-edge knowledge of market forces and political developments, backed by hard data from our market outlooks, to give you the latest, most accurate picture of the North American natural gas industry.

As a subscriber, you will be able to:

• Receive the latest on fundamentals:
  • North American Natural Gas Watch
  • Monthly Briefings, including 60-month Outlook
  • Weekly Storage Updates
• Receive our strategic reports on the Big Questions:
  • Will declining demand and low prices unleash the potential for unconventional gas production in North America?
  • How are coal, oil and natural gas prices in North America interrelated?
• Download key industrial statistics from our Data Center:
  • Continually updated and historical figures for price, supply and demand up to 20 years out
  • Productive capacity and costs up to 10 years out
• Call our research staff to interpret complex data and find answers to uncommon questions
• Participate in physical and online events to obtain our latest outlook on fundamentals and strategic issues

North American Natural Gas advisory service enables you to:

• Understand gas market fundamentals and driving forces when making investment decisions or preparing reports
• Identify price change effects to inform your gas purchase, sale and hedging decisions
• Determine the upshot of new and proposed regional infrastructure, including pipeline, storage and LNG projects, on flows, prices and basis
• Anticipate critical market shifts and the impact on investment decisions in E&P resources, midstream gas assets, power generation facilities, and LNG regasification units

Subscribers to North American Natural Gas Advisory Service receive:

Fundamentals reports:

• North American Natural Gas Watch:
  • Annual
  • Long-term (10-year) integrated outlook for Henry Hub and AECO prices
  • Reviews key long-term price drivers, industry insights, and strategic implications

• Monthly briefings:
  • Delivery prior to bid week
  • Five-year forecasts with analysis and commentary on:
    • Market prices
    • Price sensitivity
    • Demand by sector
    • Supply and LNG shifts
    • Storage analysis
    • Key short-term market drivers
  • Regional focus, with analysis and commentary on key factors driving prices in each region:
    • Canada: East and West
    • Pacific Northwest
    • California
    • West Texas–Desert Southwest
    • Rocky Mountains–Mid-Continent
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • Texas Gulf Coast
  • Outlook:
    • 60-month outlook, including:
      • Forward monthly price outlook for Henry Hub
      • Basis differentials for major trading points
      • Projected supply-demand balance
      • Demand by sector 
      • Monthly outlook for natural gas storage activity and inventories  
      • LNG imports
      • Selected regional pipeline flow outlooks
• Weekly Reports:
  • Storage forecast
  • Commentary on current market dynamics and implications for future natural gas prices

  Strategic reports:

  • Private Reports and Decision Briefs based on research driven by IHS CERA Big Questions. Corporate leaders, investors, government policymakers, and energy users rely on our answers to these questions to guide decisions that shape the industry's strategic future.

  Data center:

  • Monthly delivery of 20-year forecasts of natural gas supply, demand, and market prices
  • 10-year forecasts, delivered when updated, of basin level natural gas productive capacity and full-cycle unit costs

  Phone access to research staff

  Event invitations:

  • Exclusive client-IHS CERA expert gatherings
  • Seats at IHS CERA spring and fall Executive Roundtables
  • CERAWeek, IHS CERA Executive Conference, held annually in Houston - for an additional fee

Future research projects will assess a multitude of critical issues that influence North American Gas and will provide new ideas—sometimes contrarian—and evaluate their impact on the gas industry at all levels. As always, the research objective is to provide accurate, actionable insights. This research includes:

• Coal Displacement Potential and Its Effects on Gas
• Effect of Trinidad Gas Supply on Industrial Gas Demand
• Fraccing Update - Casing, Cementing, Water
• Full Cycle Costs of Appliances
• Gas Carbon Capture and Sequestration
• Heavy Duty Vehicles Gas Potential
• Intrinsic Value of Storage
• Line Pack: The Hidden Fundamental
• LNG Export Market Effects
• LNG Export Regulation
• Long Term Contracts
• Marcellus Update
• Natural Gas versus Electric Vehicle Demand
• Price Sensitivity of Natural Gas Demand
• Price Volatility - Less or More with Shale Supply
• Reports on Major Unconventional Gas Plays
• Rockies Express Reversal - Sooner than Later?
• Supply Costs of Gas
• Trading Storage in an Oversupplied Market
• Upside potential of Industrial Gas Demand in Low Gas Price Environment

Mismeasuring Methane: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Upstream Natural Gas Development

Although natural gas is acknowledged to be the cleanest-burning fossil fuel owing to its low carbon content, attention has recently focused on upstream emissions of methane during well drilling, testing, and completion operations. Because methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) than carbon dioxide (CO2), methane that leaks or is purposely vented into the atmosphere is more harmful than the CO2 that is produced when methane is flared. With the increase in natural gas production in recent years, primarily from shale gas, some sources, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have suggested that upstream methane emissions are increasing. However, the assumptions underlying EPA’s methodology do not reflect current industry practices. As a result, its estimates of methane emissions are dramatically overstated and it would be unwise to use them as a basis for policymaking. Download the Mismeasuring Methane Report.

North America’s Granite Wash: Declining Mature Oil and Gas Plays Stage a Comeback

Operators have recently demonstrated remarkable success in applying unconventional well practices that originally unlocked the “shale gale” in North America to tight oil and gas formations other than shale. For some plays in production plateau or in decline, that can mean a virtual rebirth of the play. In the United States the Granite Wash play in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma is an example of such a “tight oil” rebirth. After over 50 years in operation, this mature oil and gas play is registering dramatic production growth, transforming it into a significant emerging source of crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. 

An Overview of Well Construction in Unconventional Resources

The rapid pace of unconventional oil and gas development has led to much confusion and controversy among the public. The major differences between unconventional and conventional oil and gas production lie in aspects of well construction, which which has become the focal point of much misunderstanding, scrutiny, and controversy. Issues of concern surrounding horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing (or fraccing) include water usage, water disposal, greenhouse gas emissions, water contamination, and even seismic activity triggered by disposal wells for waste water. This report describes the well construction process in simple, nontechnical terms to provide a better understanding of the various constituent steps. 

Gas-to-Liquids: A Reserve Ready to Be Tapped

The time is right for a reassessment of gas-to-liquid (GTL) technologies. A wealth of natural gas lies in remote locations without easy access to high-value, robust markets. A combination of high oil prices and the compatibility of GTL products with existing oil infrastructure make GTL a potentially attractive means of monetizing gas. To achieve its potential, however, GTL must overcome challenges that have prevented its widespread adoption to date.

As a trusted authority within the energy industry, we are able to leverage our track record in research accuracy, access to IHS industry experts worldwide, and reputation for personal service to help our clients take appropriate actions and win in a complex business environment.

Our analysis is deep, built on a foundation that includes leading E&P technical databases that cover current and historical global well and production information.  Our extensive expertise in cost, finance, automotive, chemical and downstream markets in the US and around the world enhances the service. Research expertise also covers:

• Regional Natural Gas Market Fundamentals
• Natural gas supply fundamentals
• Natural gas pipeline knowledge
• Political/regulatory trends
• Economic growth
• Technology trends

North American Gas Advisory Service features the following experts:

• Robert Ineson
  IHS CERA Senior Director
  Leads IHS CERA’s North American
  Natural Gas Advisory Service
• Mary L. Barcella
  IHS CERA Director
  Follows North American natural
  gas markets, focusing on
  long-term outlooks, pricing,
  economics, and policy
• Surya Rajan
  IHS CERA Director
  Is an expert on North American
  natural gas supply