Continued

AT&T continued expanding its use of natural gas vehicles (NGV) with an announcement by General Motors that the telecommunications company plans to buy 1,200 of its Chevrolet Express compressed natural gas (CNG) cargo vans for use at its service centers around the nation. GM said this is its largest single order ever for NGVs. AT&T has 2,472 fleet vehicles now running on natural gas and plans to spend $565 million through 2018 to deploy up to 15,000 clean fuel vehicles, mostly NGVs with a mix of electric vehicles and hybrids (see Daily GPI, March 2, 2011). AT&T operates a fleet of more than 73,000 vehicles.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is slowing the permitting process for oil and gas projects that disturb significant amounts of land.

Physical gas prices continued to move higher Tuesday as momentum carried forward from Monday’s surge and quotes at eastern points advanced by nearly a half-dollar. Futures bulls are beginning to stir, but short-term traders aren’t buying any kind of sustained advance. February futures advanced 2.9 cents to $2.554 and March was up by 2.1 cents to $2.601. March crude oil shed 63 cents to $98.95/bbl.

February natural gas continued lower Thursday following the release of government inventory figures confirming traders’ estimates of an ever-growing surplus. The front-month contract broke below the $2.409 long-term support level from September 2009.

It wasn’t surprising to see a majority of points softening again Friday as weather continued to be milder than in most winters and the weekend was taking a bite out of industrial demand. What may have been a bit surprising to some was that quite a few locations were flat or managed to rack up small gains to keep mixed price movement in play.

February natural gas trekked below $3 again in active trading Thursday as traders factored in government storage data that showed a continued widening in the storage surplus. At the close February had given up 11.6 cents to$2.980 and March had retreated 11.0 cents to$3.017. February crude oil slipped $1.41 to $101.81/bbl.

Tennessee lifted Wednesday an Imbalance Warning in Zones 0, L, 1, 2, 3 and 4 but continued to request that all parties match physical flow with scheduled quantities.

Continental Resources Inc. has successfully completed its second natural gas well in the Anadarko Woodford play, while the company’s production total continued to rise during 4Q2011.

January natural gas plunged Wednesday as traders attempted to factor in an ever-increasing storage surplus and noted continued mild weather projections. At the close January had tumbled 14.3 cents to $3.136 and February had fallen 13.4 cents to $3.187. January crude oil imploded $5.19 to $94.95/bbl.