Break

The expiring July natural gas is expected to open 3 cents higher Wednesday morning at $3.06 as traders hone in on new weather data reinforcing warmer trends. Overnight oil markets weakened.

November natural gas is expected to open 8 cents lower Monday morning at $3.69 as traders see little evidence of cold weather emerging by November, and mull the prospects for an extended refill season. Overnight oil markets rose.

Baker Hughes Inc. is optimistic about North America for the second half of 2013, but sector leader Schlumberger Ltd. still expects an oversupplied pressure pumping market.

In a story published May 3, “San Bruno Settlement Talks Break Down, PG&E CEO Says” (see Daily GPI, May 3), the fifth paragraph was incorrect. That paragraph should read: CFO Kent Harvey said PG&E would “continue to expect to need roughly $1-1.2 billion of equity for the year, excluding any fines or penalties beyond the $200 million we’ve already accrued. Of that, we issued about $430 million in 1Q2013.” NGI regrets the error.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said natural gas production in Pennsylvania increased 69% in 2012, despite a reduction in drilling activity.

Inflated by production from the nation’s burgeoning shale plays, total gross withdrawals of domestic natural gas jumped to 28.58 Tcf in 2011, a 6.5% increase from 26.84 Tcf in 2010, and are on pace to easily surpass those numbers again this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review for September.

Domestic natural gas production will be at an all-time high this year and is expected to break that record for a third consecutive year in 2013, thanks in large part to the nation’s booming shale plays, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook for September.

Debt- and dry gas-laden Quicksilver Resources Inc. posted a hefty loss for the second quarter, largely due to a nearly $1B asset impairment reflecting low commodity prices. On Tuesday management talked up plans to right the balance sheet and weather the low-price period with spending cuts and other measures.

Canadian energy merchants will break out of North America and into overseas markets within six years, predicts the nation’s biggest pipeline empire. Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will begin from new tanker terminals on the Pacific Coast of British Columbia (BC) at Kitimat in late 2017, TransCanada Corp. has told the National Energy Board (NEB).