package 1 full conference - rbn energy€¦ · north american ngl market overview presenter: rusty...

11
1 © Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC Break on Thru Presenter: Rusty Braziel As increasing natural gas, NGL and crude oil production has surged through the markets over the past few years, it has had all sorts of impacts on pricing, infrastructure, regulation, logistics, cost, demand, resource availability, etc. It is a long list and might seem to be a random hodge-podge of market developments, but nothing could be further from the truth. RBN’s thesis is that these events are anything but random. In fact, they are all linked – with each development being directly connected to one or more other events. We kick off the School of Energy curriculum with an overview of oil, gas and natural gas liquids market fundamentals. We examine the hydrocarbon value chain, market terminology, and the RBN “Rosetta Stone” of energy markets. We also focus on how changing production patterns affect price differentials and the subsequent effect on pipeline flows. Rusty emphasizes the interplay among supply/demand, logistics and storage, pricing and differentials and the links between energy commodities. Understanding Models Presenter: David Braziel What makes School of Energy unique from other energy conferences is that attendees are taken beyond the conceptual level down into the nitty-gritty modelling aspect. Rather than trying to keep our methods secret, we teach the students how to use our models with hands-on instruction. This section is an introduction to the models that are woven throughout the course and the expectations that users should have for their depth and complexity. RBN uses models to analyze rates of return, pipeline flow data, netbacks, refinery yields, crack spreads, feedstock selection and many other factors that determine how markets respond to changing dynamics. In this module, David Braziel introduces the propane-crude ratio as an example for what to expect from upcoming modelling exercises. Production Basics Presenter: David Braziel Unconventional drilling techniques have radically reshaped upstream oil and gas. As these new technologies were coming into their own, $100 oil meant that producers could turn a large profit. However, in today’s landscape, producers’ decisions on whether to drill and complete a well aren’t always as clear cut so an economic analysis must be undertaken to make that determination. That economic determination will determine producer response which will, in turn, be used to estimate future production trends. Production Economics Presenter: David Braziel Production economics drive the entire supply side of the supply/demand equation. To calculate the economics of an individual well, you need to consider the total cost of drilling and completing the well, the cost of moving the hydrocarbons produced from the well to market, and the revenues generated from selling all those hydrocarbons at market prices. Those economics yield Package 1 Full Conference

Upload: others

Post on 07-Oct-2020

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

1© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

Break on Thru Presenter: Rusty Braziel

As increasing natural gas, NGL and crude oil production has surged through the markets over the past few years, it has had all

sorts of impacts on pricing, infrastructure, regulation, logistics, cost, demand, resource availability, etc. It is a long list and might

seem to be a random hodge-podge of market developments, but nothing could be further from the truth. RBN’s thesis is that

these events are anything but random. In fact, they are all linked – with each development being directly connected to one or

more other events.

We kick off the School of Energy curriculum with an overview of oil, gas and natural gas liquids market fundamentals. We examine

the hydrocarbon value chain, market terminology, and the RBN “Rosetta Stone” of energy markets. We also focus on how changing

production patterns affect price differentials and the subsequent effect on pipeline flows. Rusty emphasizes the interplay among

supply/demand, logistics and storage, pricing and differentials and the links between energy commodities.

Understanding Models Presenter: David Braziel

What makes School of Energy unique from other energy conferences is that attendees are taken beyond the conceptual level

down into the nitty-gritty modelling aspect. Rather than trying to keep our methods secret, we teach the students how to use our

models with hands-on instruction. This section is an introduction to the models that are woven throughout the course and the

expectations that users should have for their depth and complexity.

RBN uses models to analyze rates of return, pipeline flow data, netbacks, refinery yields, crack spreads, feedstock selection and

many other factors that determine how markets respond to changing dynamics. In this module, David Braziel introduces the

propane-crude ratio as an example for what to expect from upcoming modelling exercises.

Production Basics Presenter: David Braziel

Unconventional drilling techniques have radically reshaped upstream oil and gas. As these new technologies were coming into

their own, $100 oil meant that producers could turn a large profit. However, in today’s landscape, producers’ decisions on whether

to drill and complete a well aren’t always as clear cut so an economic analysis must be undertaken to make that determination.

That economic determination will determine producer response which will, in turn, be used to estimate future production trends.

Production Economics Presenter: David Braziel

Production economics drive the entire supply side of the supply/demand equation. To calculate the economics of an individual

well, you need to consider the total cost of drilling and completing the well, the cost of moving the hydrocarbons produced

from the well to market, and the revenues generated from selling all those hydrocarbons at market prices. Those economics yield

Package 1 Full Conference

Page 2: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

2© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

producer investment returns, which are the primary drivers of production – both unconventional and conventional.

We begin with an introduction of Haynesville – a gas producing region – to illustrate the factors that will most influence

production economics: drilling and completion costs, operating expenses, production taxes, royalties, initial production (IP) rates,

decline curves, liquids content, and commodity netback prices.

Production Economics Model: Single Commodity Presenter: David Braziel

To understand a producer’s economics is to understand the value of the commodities yielded by the drillbit versus the costs to

bring them to market. Continuing the example of the Haynesville introduced in Module 1.2b, the single commodity production

economics model provides the framework for how RBN analyzes the performance of a well producing a single commodity. We

begin with our Haynesville natural gas example before looking at a Permian oil well. In these examples, we demonstrate the

sensitivities of producer returns to various inputs including adjusted commodity prices and type curves.

Production Forecasting Model Presenter: David Braziel

As the oil and gas industry continues to mature through this phase of the shale revolution, the question on everybody’s lips

echoes those from previous phases, “What does this all mean for production volumes?” The answer to that question will affect

not only the upstream sector, but midstream and downstream as well. To solve the problem, RBN models production on a

regional scale focusing on individual counties – and in this example, we are looking at Loving county in Texas’s Permian basin.

Our production forecasting model requires an understanding of historical production and its rate of decline. To that, we add in

our assumption for future drilling plans which, along with an assumed type curve, can be used to build up a production forecast

using the ladder method.

Luncheon Keynote: Commander Terry Virts

Former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander Terry Virts shares his out-of-this-world perspective on

technology, risk management and human nature. He relates how astronauts multi-task on the space station with activities

ranging from the mundane to the extraordinary.

One key lesson learned in the space sector, “Just because it worked doesn’t mean you were right” can also be applied to the oil-

patch. Commander Virts shares how to analyze risk management and communicate effectively the reasons for success and failure.

North American Crude Oil Market Overview Presenter: John Zanner

Since the Shale Revolution hit the oil industry, the U.S. as experienced a tectonic shift in supply and demand. We’re now

producing record amounts, with extraordinary volumes out of the Permian and other unconventional plays. The geography of

oil production as well as the sheer quantity, have created upstream, midstream, and downstream challenges. For example, all of

that new oil doesn’t look like the imported oil it’s trying to replace and its different qualities affect how refiners respond. Exports of

crude must also play a role in balancing the market and have, as a result, ballooned in recent years with more expected.

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package ?

Page 3: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

3© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

Crack Spread Model Presenter: John Zanner

As the surge in oil production, caused by the Shale Revolution, has shifted supply and demand and pricing dynamics, the refining

sector has been on a roller-coaster ride. To understand those effects, this hands-on module uses gasoline and diesel price markers

and their relative weight against crude oil to calculate a Crack Spread. The Crack Spread is how traders begin to think about

performance and decision making with regards to the refining sector given different production yields for gasoline and diesel. In

this example, we review a 3-2-1 model and 2-1-1 crack spread.

North American Natural Gas Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel

Before the shale revolution had made it’s biggest impact felt on North American crude markets, Natural gas volumes were surging

in areas like the Barnett in Texas and the Haynesville in Louisiana. Then the Appalachian regions of the Marcellus and Utica plays

ramped up to dwarf all other gas producing areas. Now, increasingly the gas market is driven by volumes associated with crude

oil drilling and that has created an abundance of gas that affects domestic pricing and export markets. This presentation shows

the huge shift in U.S. natural gas production among regions. It also relates the history and continued relevance of the gas price

benchmark at Henry Hub and how supply and demand fundamentals will affect it. To do that, we attempt to demystify the

natural gas market to outsiders by reviewing the fundamental market dynamics – what are the drivers, how they relate, and why

they behave as they do.

Coal vs Gas Switching Model (Dark Spread/Spark Spread) Presenter: Jason Ferguson

With cheap and abundant natural gas supplies, coal and gas are competing for market share in the power generation market.

Electricity providers’ choice of which power plants to dispatch depends on fuel prices and the plant’s efficiency. To make sense of

those dynamics, we must understand the cost to generate fuel by burning gas (the Spark Spread) vs. the cost to generate using

coal (the Dark Spread). This model shows how those economics work and how price changes will affect the dispatch of one plant

versus another.

Natural Gas Transportation, Rates and Regulation with Gas Pipeline Rate Model Presenter: John Hall

In order to get natural gas to its end-use markets, new and existing pipelines are used to move those volumes around. The

structure of natural gas transportation rates is unique to that commodity and is based on regulations issued over the past 25

years. This section describes those regulations and rate-setting mechanisms. The premise of this model is a new pipeline is getting

built that will relieve a constraint and allow gas to move from point A to point B. You’ve got your sights set on shipping gas on

that new pipeline but first you need to know; what will the rate be once construction is complete? In this model, we walk through

how to do this calculation.

Page 4: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

4© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel

Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent years. Unlike crude and gas, the NGL’s value chain is

complex, beginning at the gas-processing unit where the mixed liquids (called Y-grade) are pulled out of the gas stream. From

there, NGLs are moved to fractionators which split the Y-grade into five purity products: ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and

natural gasoline – each of which has unique end-markets. In this module we’ll discuss what makes those markets move, including

prices, exports, the role of the NGL hub in Mont Belvieu (TX), and those factors which would cause some NGL producers to reject

their ethane altogether.

NGL Frac Spread Model Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

The relationships between crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) have become far more important in the Shale

Era than they were a generation ago. Now, what happens in oil markets impacts gas and NGL markets, and vice versa. A natural

gas processing plant is the physical linkage between gas and NGL markets. The job of removing NGLs from the natural gas

stream is called Natural Gas Processing and it involves a complex optimization of the inlet and tailgate streams of the plant. To

simplify those relationships, we use a Frac Spread model which calculates the difference between the price of natural gas and the

weighted average price of NGLs on a BTU basis ($/MMBtu). The Frac Spread is a yardstick measure of the general financial health

of the gas processing sector as a whole.

The Big Picture Presenter: Rusty Braziel Permian crude oil and natural gas takeaway constraints are being relieved by new pipeline capacity. Long-delayed LNG terminals

and NGL-consuming petrochemical plants are coming online. Essentially all growth in crude, gas and NGL production volumes is

being exported to global markets that — so far, at least — have been absorbing the incremental supply.

Day 1 School of Energy focused on the fundamentals of U.S. hydrocarbon markets and showed how exports have become

critical for the drillbit hydrocarbons. Day 2 material drills down on the most recent updates for each, including our outlook for

the next five years. Finally, we discuss how RBN uses technology to stay abreast of big fundamentals developments using

ClusterX technology.

Production and Forecast (Gas and Crude) Presenter: David Braziel

Day 2 begins with a big picture look at factors affecting North American oil and gas production. From there we go deeper – much

deeper – drilling down into the major factors and trends affecting production out of the major U.S. basins including: Permian,

Appalachia, Eagle Ford, Bakken, Anadarko, Niobrara, and Haynesville. To make sense of those trends going forward, we lay out

RBN’s 5-year price scenarios (low, mid, and high) and corresponding oil, gas and NGL production forecasts for each basin.

Page 5: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

5© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

U.S. Crude Markets Presenter: John Zanner

Not all crude oil producing basins are created equal. They produce at different rates, crudes of different qualities, destined for

different consuming markets. Further, each faces its own set of midstream and pricing challenges as they all deal with the

market realities of limited domestic refining and rising exports. In our U.S. crude market section, John Zanner updates the state of

play in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), the Bakken, the Powder River Basin, Denver-Julesberg, Niobrara,

the Permian and more.

U.S. Natural Gas Markets Presenter: Rusty Braziel

As supplies of U.S. natural gas have surged alongside crude, domestic demand for gas has not kept pace. Rather, the excess gas

is increasingly destined for export markets. However, we have seen growth in baseload power generation and industrial demand

while residential and commercial demand remain fairly flat. Further, the structure of many LNG export contracts means that those

outlets can be expected to also provide consistent demand as these cargoes will essentially flow just like baseload. All of that

incremental baseload demand has the potential to wreak havoc on domestic gas markets. What’s more, the forecast scenarios

presented in this module anticipate that most production growth will be in associated and wet gas basins which means that

future surpluses of gas may be insensitive to the price at Henry Hub. That presents the risk of persistent low gas prices to match

the high-side volatility.

Natural Gas Liquids Markets Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) markets have been reshaped by the Shale Revolution. Supplies of purity products – ethane, propane,

butane, isobutane and natural gasoline – are growing across the board. Most of those barrels want to flow to the Mont Belvieu

hub for access to storage, fractionation, and exports. But, with diverse end-use markets for each of the purity products, the

interplay between supply and demand is complex. In addition to the egress issues that are common among gas and liquids

markets, NGL’s must also have adequate processing and fractionation capacity. Further, we must take into account, among other

factors, petrochemical feedstock economics and ethane rejection. Finally, we arrive at 5-year supply/demand and price forecasts

for each of the purity products.

Crude Quality and IMO Presenter: Rusty Braziel

IMO 2020 is the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 rule that will require the shipping industry to limit marine bunker

fuel usage to 0.5% sulfur fuel from 3.5%S fuel oil, marking a massive shift in distillate demand as well as an underlying increase

in demand for lower-sulfur crude slates. The rule goes into effect January 1. How are international shippers preparing for the

upcoming changes and what effect will the rule have on U.S. refiners? In this module, Rusty will discuss the different solutions

available as well as some likely outcomes.

Page 6: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

6© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

Permian Crude Oil Market Presenter: Jason Ferguson

The Permian Basin’s crude oil production growth to 4.4 MMb/d from under 1 MMb/d in under 10 years’ time has led to a huge

buildout in midstream infrastructure, including major long-haul pipelines and vast expansions in gathering systems. Most of the

new supply is flowing to Gulf Coast refiners and export docks. The cost of transporting the incremental barrels is dropping as

new pipelines come online, which has implications for crude pricing. In this presentation, Jason Ferguson looks at each of the

major routes out of the Permian, future projects to move crude along those paths, and the capacity for end-markets to handle the

incoming volume.

Permian Gas Market Presenter: Jason Ferguson

The surge in natural gas production accompanying crude output growth in the Permian Basin has pushed the limits of processing

and pipeline capacity to handle it. Gas flows West, North to the Midcontinent region, south to Mexico and East on Texas intrastate

pipelines have all faced varying degrees of constraints as Permian gas pushes outward. The result; multiple stretches where

the local price marker at Waha has traded negative. How will new pipelines affect those dynamics? The recent ramp-up of the

Gulf Coast Express pipeline provides one clue – after a brief respite, pipelines filled up again more quickly than almost anyone

anticipated. New pipelines and system expansions will continue to bring more volumes to additional markets and in this module,

Jason Ferguson will discuss how RBN thinks about the impact of these outbound volumes on upstream and downstream markets

as well as their pricing.

Northeast Gas Supply and Markets Presenter: Lindsay Schneider

Burgeoning natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica regions has eclipsed local demand and is reaching markets in the

Midwest, Southeast and Canada, impacting spreads to benchmark Henry Hub. As that production gets close to exit capacity plus

local demand, negative price pressure builds. Recent pipeline expansions have alleviated market constraints but as production

continues to rise, next Spring and even summer look more challenging from a price perspective and infrastructure development

will be needed to facilitate continued supply growth.

NGLs by Basin Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

NGL production has been growing in all the major basins, with the Permian, Eagle Ford, Williston and Marcellus regions seeing the

most notable increases. In this discussion, Kelly covers the unique challenges facing several key NGL markets including Marcellus/

Utica and developments around Marcus Hook, the Bakken and the impact that Oneok’s Elk Creek pipeline will have, as well as

updates for the Rockies, Eagle Ford and the Permian. We also look at developments in fractionation centers across Texas including

Mont Belvieu and Sweeny.

Page 7: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

7© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

Permian NGLs Presenter: John Hall

With all the new oil and gas production coming out of the Permian, there’s been a huge boost in NGL output. But whereas finding

production data for oil and gas is relatively straightforward, NGL data is much more difficult to pin down if you don’t know where

to look. In cooperation with Enervus, RBN now analyzes NGL production in the Permian to understand how supply growth

impacts local and downstream markets. In response to that growth, midstreamers are building gas processing plants as well as

added NGL pipeline capacity out of the region. In this module, John Hall discusses how much capacity is being built and how

much is expected to be needed.

Production Economics Model: Multi-Commodity Presenter: David Braziel

To determine how producers might respond to changing market dynamics, we must be able to estimate their sensitivity to

various factors influencing their decisions of when and where to drill including commodity price netbacks, type curves, drilling

and completion costs, and the hydrocarbon mix that comes out of the well. The multi-commodity production economics model

analyzes discounted cash flows from a well producing oil, gas and liquids to determine a producer’s internal rate of return (IRR).

This a more complex and comprehensive version of the single commodity production economics model covered in Day 1

materials. The intent of this model is to calculate a well’s performance to inform our estimate of the producer’s response for a

given geography. It is a powerful tool for analyzing producer returns for a well or set of wells with similar characteristics.

Refinery Yield Model Presenter: John Zanner

RBN’s refinery yield model provides a view on the prices that impact a refiner’s economics which is somewhat more sophisticated

than a crack spread yet nowhere near the complexity of a linear programing model. While refiners utilize sophisticated LP models

for their economic decision-making crack spreads are a very simplistic way to boil down complex refinery operating processes

to provide a basic measure of profitability using benchmark crude and product price ratios. Building upon the same logic as our

crack spread model, our refinery yield example calculates the spread between a typical Gulf Coast refiner’s feedstock cost versus

the value yielded by a particular crude slate. Here we lay out a typical barrel yield and associated prices compared to a barrel of

crude oil. This reveals sensitivities to product prices.

Crude Blend Model Presenter: John Zanner

Crude oil can come in a wide variety of qualities. Production out of Canadian oil sands is a heavier barrel while the typical U.S.

shale play produces a lighter grade. In fact, the U.S. is now producing more light crude oil than domestic refiners can efficiently

consume. Any barrel of crude which has qualities affecting its desirability to refiners may face pricing consequences. Therefore,

marketers will try to blend together various crude streams to create grades that are more attractive to refiners. But in the world of

blending, 1+1 does not equal 2. This model looks at how those blending calculations work and how blended crudes are valued.

Page 8: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

8© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

Crude Pipeline Rates and Netbacks Model Presenter: John Zanner

A netback is most simply described as the sales price less the cost to get the commodity to market. Framed in that way, the most

important factors to consider are transportation rates and market prices, compared to the differentials between. With Permian

oil production soaring, pipelines in the region have recently been pushed to the max to move those barrels to market. Those

constraints caused crude oil prices for Permian marketers to fall. Now, with new capacity coming online, crude oil prices have

begun to rise. This model will help show how much producers can benefit in transporting the crude to various downstream

markets, including the Gulf Coast and Cushing.

Gas Flow Data Analysis Model: Northeastern Production and Demand Presenter: Sheetal Nasta

The availability of pipeline flow data makes the U.S. natural gas market uniquely positioned to grasp with reasonable accuracy

where it stands with regional or national supply and demand on a daily basis. If you understand how to wrangle and finesse this

robust data source, you can make a pretty good estimate of where the supply is, where it is headed, how it’s being consumed,

and ultimately, what that all means for prices. Key to understanding the significance of the Northeast natural gas infrastructure

build-out is knowing how to make sense of local demand and pipeline flows. This model takes a detailed, bottom-up approach in

analyzing Genscape flow data to help understand Northeast gas market dynamics.

Gas Netbacks Model Presenter: Lindsay Schneider

With the Shale Revolution, U.S. supply and demand dynamics have been flipped on their head. As a result, regions once

considered premium gas markets are now supply regions, pushing gas into traditional supply hubs. To understand what that

means for prices upstream and downstream, natural gas netbacks and net spreads are a way to visualize prices along a specific

pipeline route to evaluate the potential benefit of flowing down one pipe versus another. Netbacks are calculated by subtracting

variable transportation costs from a delivery point price. These calculations influence market decisions on where to sell gas and

where to build new pipelines.

Ethane Rejection Model Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

There is only one market for ethane, and that is the petrochemical market. If ethane prices don’t support recovery, processing

plants can produce the other NGLs (propane, butanes and natural gasoline) and reject the ethane. Rejection means that ethane

is either left in the gas stream or blended into the plant tailgate gas stream and sold at natural gas prices (on a BTU Basis).

Substantial NGL production growth has necessitated new infrastructure to be built to handle all the liquids, including ethane,

but in some cases it isn’t enough to incentivize full recovery. To make infrastructure investment decisions, midstreamers need to

know how much NGL will be produced and what will be left in the gas stream. The decision to recover the ethane or to “reject” it

depends on gas and ethane prices and the costs to bring the ethane to market including transportation and fractionation.

Page 9: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

9© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

NGL Processing Balance Model Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

To compute the economics of gas processing at the level of an individual plant or at the regional level, we need to factor in

information, like the liquids content of gas, the BTU of inlet gas, the extraction efficiency of a plant, the cost of getting a plant’s

production to market, and the value of that market relative to the industry benchmarks at Mont Belvieu. To understand all of these

factors and to really grasp the current state of the natural gas processing marketplace, we need to move beyond the Frac Spread

to a much more detailed and representative model of the processing value chain. Gas processing material balances are all about

converting hydrocarbon volumes from one state to another and understanding how much energy each liquid or gas stream

contains. NGLs enter the gas processing plant as gas – part of the inlet gas stream. The NGLs are extracted from the gas as liquids.

At every stage in the process, the gases or liquids have a measurable energy content. This section calculates the volume of liquids

produced, the residue gas stream, and the value uplift based on the quantity and quality of an inlet gas stream.

Processing Economics Model Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

Going beyond the material balance demonstrated in our NGL Processing Balance Model, natural gas processors’ economics are

shaped by the amount of gas flowing through their plant as well as the various commercial arrangements in place. A gas plant

can operate under a variety of processing arrangements including fee based, keep-whole, or percent-of-proceeds deals and in

this module, we will walk through an analysis of the effect that those different deal structures can have for both producers and

midstreamers.

Petrochemical Feedstocks Model Presenter: Kelly Van Hull

There are more than 40 stream crackers in the U.S. which “crack” a variety of feedstocks (ethane, propane, butane, naphtha, gas

oil) to produce ethylene as well as smaller volumes of propylene and other useful products. More than half of the plants are

designed to crack specific feedstocks (mostly ethane or ethane and propane), while the others can switch between feedstocks

to maximize their profitability — a function of the prices of feedstocks (ethane, propane, normal butane, etc.) and products

(ethylene, propylene etc.), and the volumes of ethylene and other products that various feedstocks produce. This model pulls

together feedstock prices, petrochemical product yields and other factors necessary to estimate the margins for a representative

flexible olefins cracker. By knowing these estimated margins, it is possible to project industry trends such as which feedstock will

be preferred in a given price environment.

NGL Arbitrage and Netbacks Model Presenter: Simon Hill

As anyone who’s talked shop with an LPG trader knows, international trading of propane and butane (collectively LPGs —

Liquified Petroleum Gas) is a wild, roller-coaster kind of business. This model on international LPG trading looks behind the curtain

and drills down into the nuances that make the difference between success and failure in this traditionally opaque world. In it,

Simon Hill will walk us through the calculation of the spread between U.S. supply markets and international demand markets, also

known as the arbitrage.

Page 10: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

10© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

ClusterX Presenter: Rusty Braziel

We are all faced with a torrent of energy information, some incredibly important, much of it superfluous. What if you could receive

only the data you need, updated in real time, available on your phone or other mobile device, and organized so that the data

most important to you is front and center? That is what ClusterX is all about. It is a new way to receive, consume and understand

energy data, news and other content. The free app offers prices, statistics and articles, algorithmically organized and available via

mobile devices. This introduction to the ClusterX tool shows you how topics are organized in the app and clustered together.

International Connections Presenter: David Braziel

As North American crude, gas, and NGL production volumes have surged, domestic supply/demand dynamics have been roiled

and now the U.S. increasingly relies on exports to balance the market. In the next five years, those trends will continue with

production forecasted to continue increasing based on RBN’s three price scenarios. Our production forecast includes gas, crude

and NGLs and considers the amount that would need to be exported to keep apace with supply output.

Global Crude Markets Presenter: Rusty Braziel

U.S. crude production, coupled with Canadian imports, far outstrip domestic demand, pushing ever increasing volumes of crude

to export docks. Which leads to two critical questions — namely, how much actual crude oil export capacity is already in place at

the Gulf Coast, and how much more needs to be developed? The ability of North American crude to access international markets

will depend on the pricing of those barrels and the capacity of export docks to handle all of the incoming supplies. From there,

the oil will travel to Europe, Latin America and, most significantly, to Asia.

Canadian Crude and Natural Gas Markets Presenter: Martin King

North America’s surge in production hasn’t been isolated to the United States. Since 2010 Canada’s Western Canadian

Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) crude oil production has increased by 2 million barrels per day, straining takeaway infrastructure. But

unlike in the States, Canadian crude is often heavier, which makes it worthwhile to complex Gulf Coast refiners looking to balance

their slate against lighter American shale production. For that reason, Canada remains the 4th largest exporter of crude oil in the

world and 98% of its crude exports are to the U.S. And it’s not just oil. Natural gas from the Montney has also seen a substantial rise

in volumes, with total WCSB now producing nearly 16 bcf/d. Like oil, that has put a strain on takeaway infrastructure and pressure

on local prices. In this module, Martin King looks at supply and demand for crude and gas with an eye towards future trends and

how new infrastructure projects may affect those dynamics.

Global LPG Markets Presenter: Simon Hill

The U.S. flipped from being a net LPG importer to a net exporter in 2012. Since then, export volumes shipped to overseas

destinations have been rising like a rocket. As that happened, the U.S. has increasingly competed against other LPG exporters for

global market share including the Far East and India. In this module, Simon Hill examines those trends and how they have shaped

the global LPG trade.

Page 11: Package 1 Full Conference - RBN Energy€¦ · North American NGL Market Overview Presenter: Rusty Braziel Like oil and gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) production has soared in recent

11© Copyright 2019 RBN Energy, LLC

SCHOOL OF ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Package 1 – Full Conference

Module 3.5 Liquified Natural Gas Markets Presenter: David Braziel

As U.S. natural gas production has surged, domestic demand has strained to keep pace and the result has been an overall

decline in natural gas prices. The release valve of this oversupplied market is exports. The first wave of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)

terminals is online and the second wave is starting to ramp up. But how many such liquefaction plants will the U.S. need and how

much more LNG can the global market absorb before it, too, is saturated? One thing we know for sure is that the 50+ bcf/d of

proposed North American terminal capacity can’t all get built. In this module we’ll look at those terminals which are online, those

which are under construction, and those which have been announced but for which Final Investment Decisions have not yet

been made.

Module 3.6 What It All Means Presenter: David Braziel

Something has changed in U.S. crude, gas and NGL markets. From the boom and busts seen since the advent of the Shale

Revolution to the wave of optimism that focused on growing exports and linkages to international markets, the U.S. has been

phasing from one reality to the next every few years. Now the winds of trade have shifted again and the market is decidedly

cooler on energy than in previous market phases. What changed? U.S. energy markets are coming to the end of their latest

infrastructure cycle just as the reality of tight capital markets is sinking in. Capital markets are demanding increased discipline from

E&P companies and midstreamers have successfully pushed the biggest volume constraints to the water limiting opportunities

for big future projects. And there’s another factor at play – the forces that shape energy markets on an international scale revolve

around the people with the biggest soapboxes. Among them are the usual suspects including leaders from the U.S., OPEC, and

China. There are also others which may not be so obvious who will shape policies for future generations.