Comfort

Moderating late-February weather forecasts in some regions, the prior-day fall of 21.4 cents by March futures and the ever-present comfort level of ample storage inventories combined to drive cast prices lower across the board Friday. The usual weekend drop of industrial load was an additional bearish factor.

December natural gas futures showed some comfort with its current price level a day ahead of expiration as the contract traded in a fairly slim 17.4-cent range before closing out Monday’s regular session at $4.473, up 4.9 cents from Friday’s finish.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) projection that consumer natural gas bills will be 14% lower this winter heating season is “cold comfort” because gas costs have nearly doubled over the past five years, said the American Chemistry Council (ACC) Tuesday. The group also cautioned Congress against using the expected lower winter gas costs as an excuse to delay action on legislation to open more of the federal offshore to drilling.

While it may not be much comfort, natural gas consumers nationwide would have faced an even more precarious supply and price situation entering this winter had the industry not finished last winter with a larger than normal amount of gas in storage and maintained typical injections throughout much of the year, a Houston-based independent storage developer told FERC last Wednesday.

While it may not be much comfort, natural gas consumers nationwide would have faced an even more precarious supply and price situation entering this winter had the industry not finished last winter with a larger than normal amount of gas in storage and maintained typical injections throughout much of the year, a Houston-based independent storage developer told FERC on Wednesday.

A gradual trend toward more autumn-like temperatures (or downright wintry in a few northern areas) and modestly growing comfort levels with the restoration of Gulf Coast onshore and offshore infrastructure finally proved great enough Thursday to reverse what had been a near-solid progression of rising prices earlier in the week.

U.S. natural gas supply and demand levels have been too close for comfort over the past two years and are expected to become even more constrained in the future without fresh new gas supplies from Alaska, liquefied natural gas (LNG) sources and frontier gas-rich drilling regions, according to a new report released by the American Gas Association (AGA) Wednesday. But achieving these feats will require radical changes in public policies, namely the lifting of drilling restrictions in Alaska’s Arctic region, the Lower-48 states’ western basins and the gas-prone offshore areas, it said.

U.S. natural gas supply and demand levels have been too close for comfort over the past two years and are expected to become even more constrained in the future without fresh new gas supplies from Alaska, liquefied natural gas (LNG) sources and frontier gas-rich drilling regions, according to a new report released by the American Gas Association (AGA) Wednesday. But achieving these feats will require radical changes in public policies, namely the lifting of drilling restrictions in Alaska’s Arctic region, the Lower-48 states’ western basins and the gas-prone offshore areas, it said.

Although there remains a dearth of retail electricity choice in Ohio, residents can take some comfort in knowing that they are protected by a wide range of consumer standards, and that the state will not ignore attempts to abuse Ohio’s evolving energy marketplace, according to a new report issued last Tuesday by the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.