On the oil and gas front, it’s all coming together. E&P companies say they are able to produce within cash flow at $50 oil, grow production with fewer rigs and deliver better shareholder returns. If the price of oil stays above $50, that’s going to be icing on the cake.

What other trends do we expect in 2018, now that OPEC and its partners have agreed to rein in oil production? In our December issue, we outlined the details of oil, natural gas and geopolitical trends for the year, as noted by several observers, but here, we have some additional comments to make.

One of the biggest stories of 2018 is that more gas is going to flow, and for a variety of good reasons, LNG exports being one. Just a month ago, first gas, as supplied by Shell Oil Co., began flowing through two pipelines to fill Dominion Energy Inc.’s Cove Point LNG plant in Maryland. Commissioning is nearly complete.

LNG will be exported to utilities GAIL India Ltd., Tokyo Gas and Sumitomo. Shell also is the biggest LNG shipper out of Cove Point. Unlike Cheniere Energy Inc., which ships both long-term contract and spot cargoes from its Gulf Coast LNG plant, Cove Point will not, as all its gas is already spoken for on 20-year contracts.

Mentioning Tokyo Gas brings me to another important trend, that of the Haynesville Shale revival, where the rig count has climbed from around 25 last year to 45 now. Last May, Tokyo Gas took an interest there when it acquired 30% of the E&P subsidiary of Castleton Commodities International LLC, its first equity investment in a U.S. upstream company. Castleton operates more than 160,000 net acres in East Texas’ Cotton Valley and Haynesville plays. Hart Energy will host its inaugural DUG Haynesville conference in Shreveport on Feb. 21, where close to a dozen operators will share their views on this play and their plans for 2018.

Longer term for gas flows, the Trump administration is angling to do two things: one, promote faster gas pipeline and LNG export approvals; and two, incentivize the states to approve controversial infrastructure projects—not overturn their construction. This sets up an interesting dynamic of federal vs. states’ rights, and the rights of landowners vs. eminent domain, ironically under a Republican-led government.

Several new pipelines will be taking Marcellus gas to market this year, changing the pricing dynamics of that basin.

However this shakes out, natural gas production is gaining momentum. “Exports, both LNG and Mexico, are the dominant demand growth driver for U.S. gas. Under normal weather expectation, we expect 2018 total demand to be up approximately 6%,” said Breanne Dougherty, gas research analyst for Societe Generale in a report.

“While export growth underpins base-case demand, near-term demand risk is predominantly winter 2017/18 related. Given the size of the 2018 demand market, year-over-year production growth of 5.5 Bcf/d [billion cubic feet] is required to deliver equilibrium.

“This could be a challenge, hence explains the upside. Our calendar 2018 average is $3.26/MMBtu [million British thermal unit], which is a 30-cent premium to the forward curve,” she said.

On the financial front, private-equity investment and minerals A&D will continue strong in 2018. One recent example mashes those trends together: In December, EnCap Investments LP closed its 20th institutional fund at $7 billion, exceeding its target. Within days, EnCap unveiled its latest deal, funding a new minerals acquisition company, Pegasus Resources LLC. The seasoned team is led by CEO George M. Young Jr., who has more than 35 years in the energy industry, most recently as CEO of Silverback Exploration LLC and as president of Collins and Young LLC. Pegasus president and COO is Will O. Rodgers, most recently vice president of Collins and Young.

This month The Environmental Partnership kicks off, organized by 26 of the largest U.S. producers. The group’s initial focus is to reduce methane and volatile organic compound emissions from their production facilities—before any federal rules take hold, these having been delayed one year under Trump’s rollback of certain EPA regulations. Majors such as Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil are on board, as are some of the most active independents, including Anadarko Petroleum Corp., BHP Billiton Ltd., Cimarex Energy Co., ConocoPhillips Co., Encana Corp., EOG Resources Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co.

Finally, we will see more joint ventures among E&Ps and by and between the funds that back them. The latest example is between EIG Global Energy Partners and FS Energy and Power Fund, a BDC (business development corporation) with approximately $4 billion in assets under management.

“FSEP is mostly retail investors and we are 98% institutional, so pro forma we’ll have about 25% of our investors be individuals now, which is a growing sector interested in oil and gas,” EIG president Bill Sonneborn told Investor. “FSEP is a BDC that may be listed in the next 18 months.” The deal takes EIG up to $21 billion in assets under management to invest in upstream and midstream sectors. It will source oil and gas deals for FSEP’s portfolio as well as its own.