Because

Northwest said it shut in the Piceance Quick Cycle receipt point Wednesday because of substandard gas quality. Supplies received from Piceance Quick Cycle were exceeding the pipeline’s hydrocarbon dew point limit of 25 degrees F.

Despite the 35% reduction in domestic drilling activity, drilling service costs have fallen only 15-20% so far because of consolidation in the industry. Today’s drilling and oil field service prices are 20-200% higher than during the same rig utilization in the last industry downturn, analysts at Raymond James & Associates said in an equity research note.

While many producers are cutting spending plans this year because of sharply lower domestic oil and gas prices, Marathon Oil Corp. said it would raise its capital investment and exploration spending by 3% to $1.8 billion for 2002 and would double spending on acquisitions.

El Paso had scheduled its Alamo Lake Station to be down Jan. 31 to change inlet scrubber and fuel filters. But because the units have tripped several times recently, the project has been accelerated to occur Friday. It will reduce capacity of the Havasu Crossover by 150 MMcf/d. The work will coincide with a scheduled outage of Line 1208 on the North Mainline to mitigate overall impact.

Because of a warming trend expected to begin in its market area today, Northern Natural Gas issued a System Underrun Limitation notice for all market area zones (ABC, D and E/F) to take effect Thanksgiving Day. The OFO is aimed at averting excessive receipts and a corresponding shortfall in deliveries.

The weak economy should counterbalance the impact of declining U.S. productive capacity because of the step-down in drilling, according to Arlington, VA-based consulting firm Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA). As a result, EEA predicts Henry Hub spot prices will average about $2.75/MMBtu over the next two years, ranging between $2 and $4 this winter with the majority of prices in the $2.75-$3 range and holding between $2 and $3.25 next summer.

The weak economy should counterbalance the impact of declining U.S. productive capacity because of the step-down in drilling, according to Arlington, VA-based consulting firm Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA). As a result, EEA predicts Henry Hub spot prices will average about $2.75/MMBtu over the next two years, ranging between $2 and $4 this winter with the majority of prices in the $2.75-$3 range and holding between $2 and $3.25 next summer.

Joining some of its peers, most notably EOG Resources, Newfield Exploration announced it is curtailing a small portion of its fourth quarter natural gas production in response to low gas prices. The company also reported that the action will allow it to take advantage of a likely further decline in service sector costs.

Joining some of its peers, most notably EOG Resources, Newfield Exploration announced it is curtailing a small portion of its fourth quarter natural gas production in response to low gas prices. The company also reported that the action will allow it to take advantage of a likely further decline in service sector costs.