Alternate

Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission LLC’s (KMIGT) proposal to sell a 432-mile segment of its Pony Express natural gas pipeline to an affiliate (Kinder Morgan Pony Express Pipeline LLC) for the purpose of converting it to transport crude oil from the Bakken and Denver-Julesburg/Niobrara shales has received a mixed reaction at FERC.

Continuing the seesaw theme of the week that has seen higher and lower days alternate, February natural gas futures on Wednesday settled 6.9 cents lower at $5.833 as traders turned their attention to Thursday’s release of the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) natural gas storage report for the week ended Dec. 31.

California’s two giant distributors continued to alternate OFOs. Southern California Gas did not extend a high-linepack OFO beyond Friday, but Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO for Saturday. Penalties of $1/Dth would apply for exceeding zero tolerance for positive daily imbalances.

Effective with Saturday’s gas day, Northwest will be cutting alternate nominations north through its Green River Compressor Station in the Timely Cycle and all subsequent cycles as needed until further notice. The pipeline said Thursday it will begin moving balancing gas north from its Clay Basin storage account to the Jackson Prairie Storage Facility until adequate levels have been established in its Jackson Prairie account. “[E]xtremely low levels in Northwest’s Jackson Prairie account require this action,” according to a bulletin board posting.

What are the chances that the U.S. would experience yet anotherwarmer-than-normal winter after just having two in a row?Apparently they’re pretty good right now, according to a new winterweather forecast released last week by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration. One thing is certain: the La Ninatropical Pacific sea temperature event, which is expected toinfluence this winter’s weather, will throw a monkey wrench intoregional weather forecasting models.