Comfortable

Longmont, CO, voters Tuesday approved a hotly contested ban on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within its jurisdiction, passing a ballot measure (Question 300) by a comfortable margin, according to reports.

Once the spin-off of El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) business is completed, the yet-to-be-named independent producer will be formidable competition in some of the prolific unconventional natural gas and oil plays in the United States, CEO Doug Foshee said.

Texas legislation that would require disclosure of the contents of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid, which was passed recently by the House, might stall in the Senate as the chair of that body’s Natural Resources Committee said he was unaware of the bill until recently and is concerned about “unintended consequences.”

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu said last Monday that he was comfortable with the Obama administration’s decision to resume allowing leases to move forward in the Gulf of Mexico, but he did not address the ongoing controversy over the speed of that process (see NGI, April 4a). He did, however, mention the new offshore drilling requirements.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu said Monday he was comfortable with the Obama administration’s decision to resume allowing leases to move forward in the Gulf of Mexico, but he did not address the ongoing controversy over the speed of that process (see Daily GPI, March 31). He did, however, mention the new offshore drilling requirements.

The petrochemical industry is growing more comfortable with the idea that favorable natural gas liquids (NGL) prices are going to stick around and players are positioning themselves to take advantage of that, Enterprise Products Partners LP Chief Commercial Officer Jim Teague told financial analysts last week.

The petrochemical industry is growing more comfortable with the idea that favorable natural gas liquids (NGL) prices are going to stick around and players are positioning themselves to take advantage of that, Enterprise Products Partners LP Chief Commercial Officer Jim Teague told financial analysts Monday.

Continued equity market uncertainty, a weather outlook that is neutral at best and comfortable natural gas storage levels teamed up on Monday to help the November natural gas futures contract to plunge below $6 for the first time since Sept. 24, 2007. The prompt-month contract on Monday traded mostly between $6.050 and $6.200 in the regular session before closing at $6.121, down 11.8 cents from Friday’s finish.

Forecasts of moderately higher natural gas demand, a spike in domestic output, a “healthy and comfortable” level of storage, a slightly warmer winter and a stagnant economy point to flat pressure on wholesale gas prices going into the winter heating season, although there may not be an “overnight impact” on consumer bills, according to the Natural Gas Supply Association’s (NGSA) winter outlook released last Thursday.