Built

The premium built into the natural gas futures market heading into the weekend was quickly dispatched of Monday as the two tropical systems that could endanger Gulf of Mexico production turned into nonevents. The retreat was enhanced after the prompt-month contract broke above $5 for the first time in nearly a month and a half, but failed to hold.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) has entered into agreements to build and operate seven of its trademark FlexRigs, which would be built for U.S. onshore use by four producers under multi-year contracts.

Apache Corp., which has built its exploration portfolio this year with three strategic North American transactions, last week said natural gas and oil output worldwide jumped in 1Q2010 from the year-ago period by 8% to 300,557 boe/d. The majority of the production continues to come from North America.

Apache Corp., which has built its exploration portfolio so far this year with three strategic North American transactions, said Thursday natural gas and oil output worldwide jumped in 1Q2010 from the year-ago period by 8% to 300,557 boe/d.

Piedmont Natural Gas and Progress Energy Carolinas have agreed for Piedmont to provide gas delivery service to the utility’s new generating unit to be built at its existing Sutton site near Wilmington, NC. Piedmont said the infrastructure to be developed “alleviates the need” for its Robeson liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak-shaving storage project.

Piedmont Natural Gas and Progress Energy Carolinas have agreed for Piedmont to provide gas delivery service to the utility’s new generating unit to be built at its existing Sutton site near Wilmington, NC. Piedmont said the infrastructure to be developed “alleviates the need” for its Robeson liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak-shaving storage project.

The public has a chance to comment through mid-October about a relaunched natural gas project to be built in Uintah County, UT, according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field office in Vernal, UT.

A proposed natural gas processing plant to be built in the West Virginia portion of the Marcellus Shale gained subsidiaries of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and StatoilHydro ASA as customers, MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC said Tuesday.

Natural gas futures bulls made a strong statement Friday as they not only secured the gains of the week, but also built upon them, leaving market watchers to seriously ponder whether the lows for the extended downtrend were already in. The June contract soared another 23 cents Friday to close at $4.311, up an astonishing 76.5 cents from the previous week’s finish.