Delivery

At least four LNG tankers are carrying U.S. cargoes to China for the first time in more than a year.

Natural gas for delivery Wednesday slumped as a weak power environment offered little incentive to make incremental purchases and the about-to-expire May futures contract eased as traders anticipated a closer convergence to the physical Henry Hub quote as well as the expected release of storage data showing an increasing storage surplus.

Natural gas for delivery Wednesday slumped as a weak power environment offered little incentive to make incremental purchases and the about-to-expire May futures contract eased as traders anticipated a closer convergence to the physical Henry Hub quote as well as the expected release of storage data showing an increasing storage surplus.

Natural gas for weekend and Monday delivery was in demand Friday as a late-winter cold blast ignited buying interest along with higher power prices and hefty increases in expected power loads.

Now that the brutal, but short-lived, cold has left eastern markets, traders find themselves readjusting cash positions and looking ahead to a weather and storage environment that is seen weak at best.

Physical natural gas for Tuesday delivery took a sharp turn higher in Monday’s trading as forecast wintry conditions in both the Midwest and East, along with a firm next-day power market, brought buyers into the market. Gains were most pronounced in the East and New England, and no points fell into the red.

Physical natural gas for Tuesday delivery posted stout gains in Monday’s trading as a combination of a firm screen, pipeline constraints and above-normal temperature patterns in the Northeast, and hefty generation forecasts on the West Coast all tugged prices higher.

EQT Corp. and a unit of NextEra Energy Inc. are offering capacity on a new pipeline project from the Marcellus and Utica shales to interconnecting pipelines that serve the Southeast. The 330-mile project is called Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Alliance Pipeline set out Thursday to stay full by catering to demand for carriage of liquids-rich natural gas, shortened transportation contracts, and the addition of a trading floor on its 3,719-kilometer (2,311-mile) route to Chicago from northern British Columbia (BC).