Chicago

The Chicago City Council has voted to pull investments in fossil fuel companies, with $70 million in bonds already removed from the portfolio in the last 18 months through maturities or sales.  “When I first took office, I chose to divest from fossil fuels to protect the health of our residents, our city and our…

Natural gas futures sailed higher on Monday, rallying for a third straight session ahead of prompt month expiration and amid a potential global energy supply crunch. The October Nymex contract spiked 56.6 cents day/day and settled at $5.706/MMBtu. October rolls off the board as the prompt month at the close of trading Tuesday. November jumped…

Chicago-based J Power USA, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., has begun construction of a 1,200 MW combined-cycle natural-gas fired power plant in Will County, IL, near Chicago, which is the largest residential heating market in the United States and a major natural gas hub.

Illinois regulators last Wednesday voted unanimously to continue what is turning out to be a multi-year investigation of the multi-billion-dollar, 20-year effort by Peoples Gas utility in Chicago to replace more than 2,000 miles of aging pipelines that have become more albatross than opportunity for Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group Inc.

Natural gas cash for weekend and Monday delivery on average took a pretty hard fall in Friday trading, but the devil was in the details and swooning eastern prices were able to overpower strong Midwest quotes as Chicago’s high Sunday was not expected to reach double digits.

Physical natural gas for Thursday delivery posted strong gains in Wednesday’s trading, boosted by early initial strength in screen prices, flow limitations at eastern population centers and healthy gains in power pricing.

Both cash natural gas and futures bounded higher Friday. Cash buyers didn’t want to get caught short over the weekend before cooler weather expected to knock close to 20 degrees off recent highs. Speculative futures traders elected to enter the market on the long side.

In physical trading Monday for Tuesday deliveries the natural gas market managed to shake off a large chunk of Friday’s 19-cent loss with double-digit gains posted at nearly all market points. TheNGI National Spot Gas Average rose 16 cents to $2.13, and forecasters were calling for cooler temperatures with readings coming in closer to seasonal norms.

FERC on Wednesday granted Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL) permission to begin service on Compressor Station No. 312 in Livingston County, IL, otherwise known as the first phase of the pipeline’s Chicago Market Expansion [CP15-505]. Startup is slated for Tuesday, the pipeline told NGI.