Scouting around: My daughter and son-in-law were on a trip to Chicago, taking a cab ride from the airport into the Loop. Their cab driver was a recent African immigrant, friendly and chatty.

“Where are you from?” he asked. “Texas,” was the reply. “And how are things there?” he asked.

“Booming,” came the answer. The cabbie sighed, shook his head and said that was not the case in Illinois. Fares are hard to come by, costs keep rising and regulations—always more rules to follow.

Should he move to Texas? Are things better there?

Yes, maybe he should. There are jobs to fill, especially in the energy business, that a bright and energetic young man like him could do.

He said he wanted “opportunity.” He had moved once, maybe he would move again.

The shale gas revolution is having a big impact in Europe but not in the way most of us in the oil and gas business would imagine. The Wall Street Journal reports gas-fired power plants on the other side of the pond are shutting down because they can’t compete with coal.

How’s that?

Well, cheap natural gas here is backing out U.S. coal, which is now going overseas to find a market. Coal prices are going down while European gas remains pricey.

Even gas-rich Norway has had gas-fired plant closings. Furthermore, electricity generated by wind and solar tends to top out during peak demand hours and gas-fired plants tend to be used as peaking plants. But renewables must have back-up for when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.

So what happens when the gas-generated, peak-load plants are gone?

It has been one chilly spring for much of the U.S. Tulsa, Oklahoma, noted its latest snowfall on record in May. Snow south of the 37th parallel in May is an amazing thing, and it helps explain why gas in storage has finally dropped below the moving five-year average for the first time since 2011.

The chill helped clear the clogged gas market—so now what about natural gas liquids? I was privileged

I was privileged to speak to the Midcontinent annual meeting of the Gas Processors Association in Oklahoma City last month and heard a familiar question voiced by midstream operators and producers in all North American plays: Things are changing—fast—so what will happen to us?

The simple answer for our friends in the Mississippi Lime, Tonkawa, Woodford, etc., is big, proved and probable reserves and established- but-undersized midstream infrastructure bode well for them.

On that note, be sure and read our Granite Wash update in this issue. Operators in the Bakken and Niobrara plays have concerns of their own, and there were some lively discussions about their futures at Hart Energy’s just-ended DUG Bakken and Niobrara conference in Denver.

Given how this business is changing in North America and the world, I can’t wait to hear what the questions will be at our DUG Australia conference in Brisbane.

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