Gas producers will gain from new markets

Article Excerpt

Natural gas prices hit a high of over $13 U.S. per thousand cubic feet in June 2008. But the economic slowdown, plus vast new shale gas discoveries, pushed prices down to a 10-year low of under $2 earlier this year. Since then, though, gas has rebounded to $3.70 U.S. per thousand cubic feet. There is still a lot of gas in storage, and rising prices are prompting many producers to restart wells they had shut down. However, utilities continue to switch to natural gas from coal to fuel power plants. That demand, plus the prospect of rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, to countries like Japan, China and South Korea, could push prices higher. ARC RESOURCES $24.25 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 307.0 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada. Its average daily production of 94,970 barrels of oil equivalent is weighted 62% to gas and 38% to oil. In…