North American natural gas bets are moving closer to the nerve centers of the shale boom in the U.S. East.
In a ranking of the gas hubs with the largest physical trading volumes, Louisiana’s Henry Hub — the benchmark for U.S. gas futures — has fallen to 38th place this year after being third just eight years ago. Instead, points in western Pennsylvania and the Southeast, nearer to the prolific Marcellus Shale basin, are becoming the go-to spots for pricing gas.
The Dominion South Point hub in western Pennsylvania — home to the Marcellus basin, the biggest U.S. shale play — is among the top three physically traded gas hubs by volume this year, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc. Transco Zone 4, the price for gas delivered to the Southeast on a massive interstate pipeline, was the most popular.
Diversified Gas & Oil Plc (DGOC) owns and operates gas and oil producing wells in the Appalachian Basin in the United States. The Company’s operations are based in the neighbouring states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, which cover part of the largest and oldest hydrocarbon producing field in the US, known as the Appalachian Basin.