Christmas

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. brought online two new company-operated Eagle Ford Shale wells three days before Christmas. The wells’ best-ever results for the company in the Eagle Ford could have Magnum Hunter rethinking its idea of divesting the South Texas properties, said CEO Gary C. Evans.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. brought online two new company-operated Eagle Ford Shale wells three days before Christmas. The wells’ best-ever results for the company in the Eagle Ford could have Magnum Hunter rethinking its idea of divesting Eagle Ford properties, said CEO Gary C. Evans.

Paraphrasing a Christmas carol, “It’s beginning to look a lot like last week” when it comes to the spot gas market. Just as the Nov. 28-Dec. 2 trading week featured three days of mostly rising prices followed by two days of majority softness, the current week’s market was generally strong through Wednesday before falling at most locations Thursday.

Offshore oil and natural gas producers received an unexpected Christmas gift in the stopgap funding measure signed by President Obama — it excludes a provision that would have extended the federal review period of new offshore drilling plans to 90 days from 30 days. It also provided additional funding to the states for low-income energy customers.

Countering Wednesday’s trade where natural gas cash points came off across the board, Thursday’s trade for the long Christmas holiday weekend proved to be the exact opposite.

Despite the Christmas week’s burst of wintry cold in a number of regions of the country, only 124 Bcf was removed from underground natural gas storage, according to the Energy Information Administration, which released its latest storage report on Thursday morning. The number was some 20 Bcf below most industry expectations, which caused natural gas futures values to turn lower Thursday after riding high in pre-report trading.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said Wednesday it is cooperating with federal and state investigators a week after a tragic Christmas Eve residential distribution pipeline explosion that killed one person and critically injured two others while destroying a home and badly damaging two others in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova, CA. Local news media coverage quoted officials as criticizing the San Francisco-based utility for not being forthcoming with all of its records related to the hours leading up to the blast.

FERC Thursday handed out early Christmas gifts to two storage companies, issuing certificates to Southeast Gas Storage LLC and Arlington Storage Co. LLC for projects in Mississippi and New York, respectively.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday handed out early Christmas gifts to two storage companies, issuing certificates to Southeast Gas Storage LLC and Arlington Storage Co. LLC for projects in Mississippi and New York, respectively.