Canadian natural gas exports walloped

Canadian natural gas exports to the United States have gone into a nosedive, hitting their lowest point in the 24 years that volumes have been tracked by the National Energy Board.

The cross-border shipments were down 10.76 percent in the first nine months of 2009 from a year earlier, while the 2008-09 contract year numbers for the 11 months to Sept. 30 slumped 10.4 percent.

As a result of plunging exports and prices, revenues for the January-September period fell 55 percent to C$11.57 billion from almost C$26 billion a year earlier and average prices spiraled 51 percent to C$4.28 per gigajoule.

The NEB said deliveries to all markets were down, notably to the key U.S. Midwest and Northeast markets, triggered by reduced demand, especially in the industrial sector, shrinking output in Western Canada and competition from U.S. shale gas supplies.

The federal regulator expects continued declines in Western Canada’s volumes until at least 2011, while increasing consumption of gas in the Alberta oil sands will put a further squeeze on gas available for export.

For the nine-month period, the Midwest claimed 42 percent of Canada’s gas exports and the Northeast received 29.3 percent. California’s share of the volumes was 11.6 percent, compared with 14 percent in the same period of 2008.

—Gary Park