Cases

The Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), which was created to referee contested cases, will hold a hearing July 12 in Gainesville, TX, on EOG Resources Inc.’s application for an air permit to build a plant to process sand to be used primarily to hydraulically fracture (frack) oil and natural gas wells.

Total combined natural gas purchase and sales volumes reached 124,752 TBtu in 2011, a 2.5% increase compared with 121,682 TBtu in 2010, according to an analysis by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) of 2011 Form 552 filings with FERC.

While she joined the majority at FERC last week in voting out a certificate to build facilities to liquefy and export natural gas, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur on Monday cautioned industry about rushing to invest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, questioning how long the U.S. will maintain its technology advantage in the development of the shale gas that is driving the trend towards exports.

Prices again showed little change from flat in a large majority of cases Thursday, but this time they tended to be mostly a little higher instead of the other way around as on the day before. Although some regions will see slightly warmer weather over the next couple of days or so, crisp and cool fall conditions appear to be pretty well established by now.

As a marathon hunt continues for cases of a Canadian pipeline plague, an additional effort aims to catch up with a U.S. method of easily and rapidly distributing hazard information.

As a marathon hunt continues for cases of a Canadian pipeline plague, an additional effort aims to catch up with a U.S. method of easily and rapidly distributing hazard information.

There was a new tropical storm in town Tuesday, but it failed to impact the gas market. Prices again were flat to slightly higher in most cases as forecasts remained hot in many areas but were easing downward in such key consuming regions as the Northeast and Midwest. The previous day’s 4.3-cent futures gain helped keep a floor under much of the market.

A shale-rich township in southwestern Pennsylvania is proposing mediation to resolve a dispute with a local gas driller.

A bill filed last Friday by the Republican chair of the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources to require disclosure of the contents of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) fluid has bipartisan support as well as industry and environmentalist fans.