California

Nearly 3,000 permits were issued in February to explore for U.S. oil and gas, a slight increase from January but down nearly 9% from a year ago, according to state and federal data. Evercore ISI, which tracks oil and gas permitting data, said 2,929 permits gained approval in February, up by 211 or 8% from…

As dust settles on the nationwide natural gas-versus-electric stove story, regulators for California’s San Francisco Bay Area have determined that natural gas stoves are safe for now, but gas furnaces and water heaters must be phased out in four years.  In a near-unanimous vote, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) on Wednesday amended…

Natural gas forward prices escalated across the Lower 48 throughout the Feb. 23-March 1 period, with a continuation of winter storms fueling sharp premiums on the West Coast, according to NGI’s Forward Look. April forward prices remained low overall as benchmark Henry Hub stood Wednesday at $2.819/MMBtu. That has prompted some power generators to make…

Click here to listen to the latest episode of NGI’s Hub & Flow in which Senior Price and Markets Editor Leticia Gonzales joins Associate Editor Morgan Evans to discuss the unique natural gas price environment in California this winter.  Gonzales details how high natural gas prices soared in the Golden State, how they compared to…

As a deluge of adverse circumstances in 2022 nearly doubled natural gas spending by Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. (PG&E), CEO Patricia Poppe said the San Francisco-based company is “laser focused on affordability” as customers face higher-than-normal bills.  The cost of natural gas nearly doubled year/year to $2.1 billion in 2022 from  $1.15 billion in…

Click here to listen to the latest episode of NGI’s Hub & Flow in which Senior Price and Markets Editor Leticia Gonzales joins Associate Editor Morgan Evans to discuss the unique natural gas price environment in California this winter.  Gonzales details how high natural gas prices soared in the Golden State, how they compared to…

A dichotomy of steep gains for the West and hefty losses everywhere else played out in natural gas forwards markets during the Feb. 16-22 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show. This dynamic largely reflected the latest weather maps from Maxar’s Weather Desk, which showed shades of blue colder-than-normal temperature deviations blanketing much of the…

Spot gas prices were range bound across most of the country during the Feb. 13-17 trading week, but there were some big movers as temperatures plunged into the country’s midsection and headed east. NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 14.0 cents to $2.825. Futures action failed to inspire similar strength. By Friday, prices had…

The prospect of late-month chills, particularly for western and northern portions of the Lower 48, helped rally natural gas forward prices at several regional hubs during the Feb. 9-15 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show. In the West, the perennially constrained SoCal Citygate led the surge higher, with March fixed prices swelling $1.178 week/week…