What will the end game look like?

[errolanderson]

Hopperbin . . . natural gas is
incredibly oversold. If natural gas
would be equated to an oil price on an
energy basis, crude would be only $15
per barrel.

U.S. rig count has really dropped plus
nat gas is used to replaced U.S. nuclear
power when these plants are down for
maintenance.

The way of the future for Cdn nat gas is
for LNG to be shipped to Japan. Our spot
nat gas price is around $2 per gigajoule
whereas Japan's spot price is around $15
per gig.

Go nat gas go . . . these oil companies
need competition and a kick in-the-ass.

Errol

[oneoff]

I don't know much about the vapor part of the oil industry business and neither do many others in the oil industry because gas processing has so few players and it is not even much of a part of many oil producers revenue.
Traditionally natural gas; the H2S contaminants; propane, butane and liquid natural gas (LPG) components were wasted and burned or sold for a song to a few companies such as BP (British Petroleum). It was a licence to print money for the few gas processors. The propane and butane and heavier ends were not even paid for; and pipeline infrastucture was not even built by BP unless they were guranteed a no loss outcome.
Recently Plains Midstream acquired most of the troubled BP assets (after the Gulf blowout).... and other smaller companies have constucted some independent gas processing plants; and are probably finding them quite profitable; and an important asset in reducing environmental pollution and putting valuable products to use.
The revenue from the CH4 (methane or natural gas is a suprisingly small part of the gas processing). You will note that products such as propane are priced competitively with gasoline and diesel. And those products are basically stolen as a near worthless product of oil production; along with LPG's mentioned above. They do have uses in thinning cheaper heavier crudes so they are more pumpable and command a higher price. (Just same as mixing in some better wheat with the poor and getting the better grade for it all). With further processing there can be a propane stream and a butane one and LNG's that can have the ethane etc. typically stripped out by further processing. That is a money maker.
There are lots of opportunity for cogeneration of electricity; waste heat from compressors etc. but that hasn't been addressed much yet. And the flares from downtime, surges that a single plant can't handle; and upsets in plant operations and shutdowns are typically burned and wasted. Thats a gross shame.
But when you are dealing with some product seen as nearly worthless and a nuisance; what more can be expected.