低气价正在击溃阿巴拉契亚的页岩繁荣

据今日油价1月9日报道，较低的天然气价格最终使阿巴拉契亚州长达十年之久的页岩气繁荣停滞了。

根据数据显示，过去30天内，阿巴拉契亚州的天然气日产量减少约10亿立方英尺，使日均产量降至327亿立方英尺。这使美国的整体天然气日产量下降至918亿立方英尺，较11月的934亿立方英尺下降了1.7％。

二叠纪盆地的繁荣曾在媒体上引起了很大的关注，但马塞勒斯页岩以十年来的迅猛速度增长。随着美国页岩气行业在供应过剩和低价格、缺乏利润、债务、投资者怀疑以及二叠纪相关天然气的竞争等问题上挣扎，美国页岩繁盛期情况正在结束。

去年天然气价格急剧下跌，到年底跌幅超过25％。上周，马塞勒斯（Marcellus）的钻机数量减少了1台，总数降至40台。八个月前，该地区有65台钻机在运作。

近月天然气合约的交易价格约为2.12美元/百万英热单位，尽管井口价格可能会更低。在过去的一个月里，马塞勒斯的一个枢纽中心，南领地的每百万英热单位均价只有1.78美元。每百万英热单位平均盈亏平衡价格为1.80美元，但这可能低估了钻井商所需的最低价格水平，因为有太多钻井商正举步维艰。

郝芬 译自 今日油价

原文如下：

Low Gas Prices Crush Appalachia Shale Boom

Low natural gas prices have finally brought the decade-long shale gas boom in Appalachia to a halt.

Gas production in Appalachia declined by about 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) over the past 30 days, bringing output down to an average of 32.7 Bcf/d, according to data from markets. That helped drag down overall U.S. gas production to 91.8 Bcf/d, a 1.7 percent decline from 93.4 Bcf/d in November.

The Permian hogs a lot of attention in the press, but the Marcellus shale has been growing at a blistering rate for about a decade. That is now coming to an end as the shale gas industry struggles with oversupply and low prices, lack of profits, debt, investor skepticism and also competition from associated gas in the Permian.

Natural gas prices fell sharply last year, ending the year down more than 25 percent. The rig count in the Marcellus fell by 1 last week, dropping the total to 40. Eight months ago there were 65 rigs operating in the area.

Front-month gas contracts are trading at about $2.12/MMBtu, although at the wellhead prices can be much weaker. It said that prices at Dominion South, a hub in the Marcellus, have averaged just $1.78/MMBtu in the past month.It says that average breakeven prices are $1.80/MMBtu, but that likely understates the price level that drillers need, given the struggles that many have gone through.