Conventional

CONSOL Energy Inc., primarily a coal mining company which has recently branched out into coalbed methane and conventional gas production, announced last week it also has begun producing commercial quantities of natural gas from properties it controls in northeastern Tennessee through a joint venture called Knox Energy.

Despite the conventional wisdom that there has been a decouplingof natural gas and crude oil prices, ICF Consulting says it isprimarily the close tie between the two commodities under thecurrent circumstances that has been responsible for high naturalgas prices this year.

Despite the conventional wisdom that there has been a decouplingof natural gas and crude oil prices, ICF Consulting says it isprimarily the close tie between the two commodities under thecurrent circumstances that has been responsible for high naturalgas prices this year.

Defying the conventional wisdom that lower gas demand over aweekend usually causes softer prices, cash prices put on a show ofstrength Friday with nearly all points rising by a nickel or more.An increase of less than a penny in the Henry Hub futures contractprovided little support for the cash market, so sources concludedit must have been the residual effect from Thursday’s screen run-upof nearly a dime that helped push up cash quotes Friday.

A statewide poll of voting Texans suggests consumers favor gasover costlier non-conventional energy technologies such as solarand wind. Responding to the ninth annual Texas Interested Citizens(TIC) Statewide Poll, conducted in late September, more than halfthe respondents, 56% said they would not be willing to pay more forelectricity produced by solar and wind power.