Bulging

Record-high natural gas working inventories, which are bulging after mild temperatures held down demand through the winter, have prompted the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to once again revise downward its projection for natural gas prices this year.

Bulging natural gas liquids (NGL) supplies in the Midcontinent have prompted a plan to carry the bounty to more lucrative Gulf of Mexico region markets.

The bulging natural gas supply is one of the three “major themes” — the other two being world oil prices and climate change policy — that will drive U.S. energy policy in the years ahead, said the head of a Washington, DC-based nonprofit energy and environmental research group Tuesday. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu called shale gas a “big deal” because “gas will be [the] transition fuel as [we] go to renewables.”

The bulging natural gas supply is one of the three “major themes” — the other two being world oil prices and climate change policy — that will drive U.S. energy policy in the years ahead, said the head of a Washington, DC-based nonprofit energy and environmental research group Tuesday. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu called shale gas a “big deal” because “gas will be [the] transition fuel as [we] go to renewables.”

Pointing to warmer-than-normal weather and still-bulging natural gas inventories, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for December projected that spot gas prices would remain under $9/Mcf throughout the winter heating season. The price prognosis was basically unchanged from the EIA’s forecast last month (see NGI, Nov. 13).

Pointing to warmer-than-normal weather and still-bulging natural gas inventories, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for December projected that spot gas prices would remain under $9/Mcf throughout the winter heating season. The price prognosis was basically unchanged from the EIA’s forecast last month (see Daily GPI, Nov. 8).

Citing bulging natural gas inventory levels and lower consumption, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) again revised downward its Henry Hub spot price forecast for the year in its Short-Term Energy Outlook to about $7.61/Mcf from the $7.74/Mcf that was projected last month, and ratcheted down its average price forecast for 2007 to $8.13/Mcf from its June prediction of $8.81/Mcf.

Citing bulging natural gas inventory levels and lower consumption, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) again revised downward its Henry Hub spot price forecast for the year in its Short-Term Energy Outlook to about $7.61/Mcf from the $7.74/Mcf that was projected last month, and ratcheted down its average price forecast for 2007 to $8.13/Mcf from its June prediction of $8.81/Mcf.

Reduced demand for natural gas in the electric generation and residential markets, combined with bulging inventories for this time of the year, are setting the stage for weaker spot gas prices throughout much of the year, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook that was released Tuesday.