Argument

The CME Group’s argument for eliminating the “conditional limit” in the natural gas futures market is “significantly flawed,” said IntercontinentalExchange (ICE).

The trouble with the argument raging between the gas industry and environmentalists over the impacts of shale gas drilling and production is that neither side has the data it needs to back up its position, the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Dan Soeder told NGI. That’s about to change, but probably not as quickly as either side would like.

The trouble with the argument raging between the gas industry and environmentalists over the impacts of shale gas drilling and production is that neither side has the data it needs to back up its position, the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Dan Soeder told NGI. That’s about to change, but probably not as quickly as either side would like.

Traders on Wednesday added more fuel to the range-bound trading argument as March natural gas futures traded in a fairly slim 18.7-cent range during the regular session between $4.533 and $4.720. The prompt-month contract ended up closing at $4.597, up 8.4 cents from Tuesday’s regular session finish.

The argument over whether the world’s oil and natural gas supplies are peaking/have peaked is metaphysical, says Matthew R. Simmons chairman of Houston-based Simmons & Co. International. And Simmons comes down distinctly on the side of the pessimists.

Firing the latest shot in what has been a long and heated argument, U.S. Energy Corp. and Crested Corp., doing business as USECC, reported Tuesday that in October it filed a cross-appeal of the judgment entered by the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Aug. 1, which ordered RWE Nukem, Inc. and its subsidiary, Cycle Resource Investment Corp., to pay USECC $20,044,183.

Ending an almost two-year-old argument over $6.8 million in levied penalties stemming from the winter of 2000-2001, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) last week accepted a settlement agreement between Columbia Gas of Virginia and its transportation customers, stating that the matter can now be part of the commission’s file for “ended causes.”

Ending an almost two-year-old argument over $6.8 million in levied penalties stemming from the winter of 2000-2001, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) on Monday accepted a settlement between Columbia Gas of Virginia and its transportation customers, stating that the matter can now be part of the commission’s file for “ended causes.”