03.08.2009

Closing down of LNG facilities due to downward pressure on prices which would mean that it would not be economic to continue to run the facility. Although LNG prices have fallen from a high of $24 mmbtu in the summer of 2008 to a low of $4 mmbtu in the winter of 2009, shut-in of LNG liquefaction capacity is unlikely. It is estimated that U.S. prices would have to fall to around $2.50 per mmbtu before margins were thin enough — around 70 cents per mmbtu — to force any shut-ins from suppliers to that market. However, the cost of producing LNG in some plants, including those in top producer Qatar, is considered quite low because the fuel is produced alongside other higher-profit liquids. The LNG business is very capital intensive and the operating costs are quite low relative to the sales price of LNG. A plant could operate at a loss to ensure condensate can continue to be produced. Large new LNG trains are likely to continue producing, given the technical complications of shutting down a whole train and the need to pay for the investment. Smaller trains with no pressing payments might consider shutting down, but this is unlikely to tighten the market. There has not been a shut-in of an LNG production plant since the early 1980s when the U.S. stopped imports from Algeria over a price dispute, forcing the North African state to cut production

The movement of coastline land-ward in response to a transgression. This can occur during a sea-level rise with low sediment flux. Retrogradational stacking patterns of parasequences refer to patterns in which facies become progressively more distal when traced upward vertically

The different classes of players in the oil and gas industry include the supermajor and major oil companies, the state or national firms, the mid-size and finally the smaller upstream independents

This log measures the electrical current that occurs naturally in boreholes as a result of salinity differences between the formation water and the borehole mud filtrate (formation and surface). These logs are used as indicators of permeable beds (including determining permeable sands and impermeable shales) or for locating bed boundaries. The SP log was one of the first tools to be used to distinguish shale from sand in clastic sequences (zero matches pure shale while high SP values match sand)

Hoist (remove) the drill stem from the wellbore to perform one or more operations, such as changing bits, running a logging tool, or taking a core sample, and then return the drill stem to the wellbore

Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of US and Canadian drilling activity. Hughes initiated the monthly international rig count in 1975.  The North American rig count is released weekly at noon central time on the last day of the work week.  The international rig count is releases before the market opens on the fifth working day of each month. The Baker Hughes Rig Counts are an important business barometer for the drilling industry and its suppliers. When drilling rigs are active they consume products and services produced by the oil service industry. The active rig count acts as a leading indicator of demand for products used in drilling, completing, producing and processing hydrocarbons. Baker Hughes Rig Counts are published by major newspapers and trade publications, are referred to frequently by journalists, economists, security analysts and government officials, and are included in many industry statistical reports. Because they have been compiled consistently for 60 years, Baker Hughes Rig Counts also are useful in historical analysis of the industry.

The percent of the total liquid production of the well represented by the water phase.

All products and services required to install and operate production installations on the seabed

Downtime, such as downtime when an LNG operation is in its initial stages