Although

Although a shale-produced natural gas surplus remains, it is at a lower level than many expected and thus a couple of drivers could send prices back into a period of volatility, according to Jim Duncan, chief analyst and commodity market strategist for ConocoPhillips in Houston.

Although a shale-produced natural gas surplus remains, it is at a lower level than many expected and thus a couple of drivers could send prices back into a period of volatility, according to Jim Duncan, chief analyst and commodity market strategist for ConocoPhillips in Houston.

The last day of summer saw lower prices at all but a few locations Thursday. Although the season doesn’t officially start until Friday, fall-like weather was already in place for many market areas. The previous day’s drop of 6.8 cents by October futures, restrictions to avoid packing pipeline (particularly those serving the Northeast), and further evidence that storage injection options are quickly fading added to the overall bearishness.

Although temperatures are rising in much of the West, they were diminishing in sections of the South, and despite chilly conditions lingering for at least another day or so in the Midwest, the region is due to see a warming trend toward the weekend. The modestly bearish weather influences, which reversed marginal support for Tuesday’s cash market, combined with the 3.1-cent fall by October futures Tuesday to drive quotes lower at a large majority of points Wednesday.

Although Destin lifted Thursday morning a force majeure that it had declared two days earlier due to issues at an onshore liquids handling facility (see Daily GPI, Sept. 1), that afternoon it reported being unable to provide transportation services from its offshore receipt points due to the approach of a tropical depression (which became Tropical Storm Lee on Friday). Onshore receipt and delivery points were not affected.

Although previously committed to replacing its coal-fired power plants with natural gas generation in Colorado, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy said Thursday it is buying another 200 MW of wind-generated electricity supplies as part of efforts to meet the state’s 2020 renewable portfolio standard (RPS) goal of 30%.

Rockies Express (REX) said an outage of one unit at Bertrand Compressor Station experienced Thursday kept it unavailable Friday although repair crews worked on resolving the issue. However, at the current level of scheduled quantities (both Intraday 1 and Timely) through Segment 250, scheduling reductions were not necessary Friday, REX said, but if nominations increase for future cycles, a force majeure may be required.

Although the cash market showed a few signs of vitality in moving to near-flat numbers Tuesday following the previous day’s losses at nearly all points, there was little in the near-term outlook to suggest any chances of a substantive rally anytime soon.

Although the city-created project has sputtered at times during its almost three-year permitting process, the Palmdale, CA, hybrid natural gas and solar power generation project has won approval of the California Energy Commission (CEC) Wednesday. However, the approval still doesn’t mean the project will be built.