Advance

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) operators notched another small advance in efforts to restore natural gas production following hurricanes Gustav and Ike, according to a Tuesday report from the Minerals Management Service (MMS). However, the estimate of oil production restoration took a big step back compared to Monday’s estimate, which turned out to be erroneous.

Getting a boost from the prior-day futures advance of 12.6 cents and mild support from slowly rising cooling load in eastern sections of the South, most of the cash market recorded gains Thursday. A large majority of them were small, but Rockies and El Paso’s San Juan-Bondad pool saw much larger upticks.

Prices continued to rise at most points Tuesday on the support of widespread cooling load and the previous day’s 15.5-cent advance by August futures. However, there were signs that this week’s overall bullishness so far in the cash market could be starting to fade as many of Tuesday’s gains were about a dime or less and there was a sharp increase of sizeable losses, especially in the Southwest basins, California and Midcontinent.

Getting a major boost from the expiration-day spike of 35.2 cents by July futures, most of the cash market was able to advance Friday. In doing so, it overcame bearish influences such as forecasts of declining temperatures in much of the East and the usual weekend dropoff in industrial load.

Forecasts of more seasonal (that is, hotter) weather across the southern half of the United States, the previous Friday’s advance of 22.9 cents by July futures and the return of industrial load from its typical weekend reduction were responsible for strong cash market gains across the board Monday. Many hit triple digits and a few exceeded $2. Some buyers might want to argue that a bit of “storm hype” also was involved.

ConocoPhillips is reassessing how to advance its Alaska North Slope gas pipeline project after its rejection by the state in favor of a competing proposal that is compliant with the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA), the company said Thursday.

ConocoPhillips is reassessing how to advance its Alaska North Slope gas pipeline project after its rejection by the state in favor of a competing proposal that is compliant with the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA), the company said last week.

Calgary-based pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. is leading a group of 19 oil and natural gas players to advance carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in Alberta.

Calgary-based pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. is leading a group of 19 oil and natural gas players to advance carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in Alberta.