Areas

With a midweek winter blast due to yield to more moderate conditions in key northern market areas, prices dropped at nearly all points Thursday by amounts ranging from a couple of pennies to a little more than 30 cents. A little more than half of the declines were a dime or less.

Feeding on the midweek renewal or continuance of cold weather in several market areas, prices kept rising Wednesday at nearly all points. A few Northeast citygates that were flat to a little over 15 cents lower were the only deviations from overall upticks ranging from about a nickel to 45 cents.

With several market areas still getting a limited early taste of winter, cash prices managed to eke out moderate gains Thursday at a slight majority of points. But there were almost as many points ranging from flat to down as much as 30-45 cents, although most losses were less than a dime.

With several market areas still getting a limited early taste of winter, cash prices managed to eke out moderate gains Thursday at a slight majority of points. But there were almost as many points ranging from flat to down as much as 30-45 cents, although most losses were less than a dime.

Cool to cold temperatures were due over the weekend in most areas, but the cash market did not find that enough incentive to sustain Thursday’s sharp gains into Friday. Instead, prices fell at almost all points between a little less than a nickel and nearly half a dollar (the sole gainer was Transco Zone 5’s rise of about 4 cents).

The rupture and subsequent explosion on TransCanada PipeLines’ mainline system in Canada in early 2002 was due to a host of factors that came together in a near “perfect storm,” causing “stress corrosion cracking to initiate and grow to failure,” according to a report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on the accident.

The rupture and subsequent explosion on TransCanada PipeLines’ mainline system in Canada in early 2002 was due to a host of factors that came together in a near “perfect storm,” causing “stress corrosion cracking to initiate and grow to failure,” according to a report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on the accident.

Natural gas continues to be at the heart of California’s future energy policy, and the key areas of focus are on pipeline capacity and liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) top gas official, David Maul. As gas demand continues to increase in the nation’s most populous state, natural gas imports are at the 85% level.

Calgary-based Canadian Superior Energy Inc. announced two new natural gas discoveries in Western Canada in the Watts and Craigmyle areas of east central Alberta. The two new wells were tested at 11.2 MMcf/d and 6.5 MMcf/d of gas, respectively. The company said it expects that the wells will be tied in for production within the next 30 days. Greg Noval, president of Canadian Superior, said that the company is maintaining an “extremely active” developmental drilling program in this area this winter, and in addition, is proceeding with high impact exploration plays in the Windfall area of west central Alberta and East Ladyfern area of northwestern Alberta. The producer also is excited about its activity on the Mariner block, located offshore Atlantic Canada. The Mariner I-85 well — a high pressure high temperature well that is one of the deepest wells that will be drilled this year in North America — is proceeding ahead on schedule, and will take about another four weeks to drill to its targeted total depth of 18,370 feet at a total budgeted cost of US$30 million. The well is located 180 miles southeast of Halifax, NS. The company said three large “world-class” prospects with estimated potential reserves of 2.5 Tcf of natural gas have been identified for drilling on the Mariner block utilizing high-resolution seismic. The block encompasses a total area of 101,800 acres and directly offsets five significant discoveries near Sable Island including the 1.6 Tcf Venture natural gas field. El Paso Oil & Gas Canada, Inc. is participating in Mariner by paying two-thirds of the costs to earn a 50% interest.