Actual

A group of Pennsylvania state lawmakers is proposing an impact fee on Marcellus Shale wells based upon the actual damage caused by natural gas operations in the state.

Florida Gas Transmission did not extend an Overage Alert Day beyond Thursday, but Gulfstream, another pipeline serving the Florida market, said actual deliveries from its system recently were exceeding receipts and it was experiencing low linepack levels as a result. Thus Gulfstream issued an Action Alert Friday requiring shippers to keep imbalances flat “regardless of whether any operational variation is allocated to an operational balancing agreement for later imbalance resolution.” See the bulletin board for further details.

Pipeline flows recorded by Bentek Energy LLC show that Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale region has surpassed the Fort Worth Basin/Barnett Shale region of North Texas in natural gas output. The two shale plays themselves are neck and neck in output. While it’s too soon to call a new Lower 48 shale king, all signs are that the Barnett will soon bow to the Haynesville.

Supplies in the market area are being scheduled at quantities much higher than actual deliveries, Northern Natural Gas said Thursday, and its ability to put excess gas into storage that was nominated long to the system is limited. Thus it will implement a System Underrun Limitation for market-area zones ABC, D and EF Saturday. “The forecast indicates loads will continue to decline over the weekend due to warmer weather,” the pipeline said.

Natural gas futures traders took Thursday morning’s “bullish” report that 186 Bcf was removed from underground storage last week mostly in stride in morning trade, but the March contract — in its first prompt-month regular session action — made an afternoon push higher to close at $4.576, up 15.6 cents from Wednesday.

Upon clarification by Calypso U.S. Pipeline LLC, FERC earlier this month reversed its position in a January order and said the company could proceed with the construction of 10 miles of its proposed offshore Florida pipeline when an affiliate’s proposed deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) port, with which it would interconnect, obtains a green light from the U.S. Maritimes Administration (MARAD).

Tennessee Gas lifted its operational flow order action alert in its market zones (0, L, 1, 2 and 3), but maintained the alert in the market area (zones 4, 5 and 6). Actual daily flow rates cannot exceed 2% or 500 Dth, whichever is greater, of scheduled quantities or else the shipper will pay a 22 cents/Dth penalty.

With spot crude prices rising at a stronger-than-expected pace, actual cooling degree days (CDDs) about 13% higher than a year ago and the natural gas consumption impact per CDD above 2004, the stage is set for continued upward pressure on gas prices for the next few months, according to Stephen Smith Energy Associates.

IDACORP Inc. revealed in a federal filing that it has received and will respond to a new request for information about natural gas prices that it has provided to unnamed industry publications. The company said, however, it did not engage in any illegal transactions and believes data it supplied to publications was bona fide. Federal officials did not disclose any other details of the investigation.