Turnipseed

Porter Stansberry: Sea Change in U.S. Natural Gas Industry

Much of the new "discoveries" of natural gas are in shales. These have been known for years but were uneconomic until improvements in horizontal drilling. Horizontal shale wells are short lived, with production falling as much as 50% in the first year, so to maintain production levels, new wells have to be brought in all the time. And since horizontal wells are much more expensive than conventional wells, they are probably uneconomic at todays low NG prices. Stansberry is correct when he asserts not many wells will be shut in - the major expense is upfront. But as drilling falls off in the shale basins, production will fall more rapidly than in other types of gas fields, and because more of our NG supply comes from shale basins than in the past, a balance between supply and demand might be achieved more quickly than Stansberry suggests.

By the way, I think Stansberry is confusing shale NG and coal bed NG. Not good for his credibility.

Before investing in CPN, investigate its bankruptcy and present debt obligations. A great company may not be a great investment.