Dollar

Proposed in 2009 to state regulators, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility is still treading water in its multi-million-dollar attempt to upgrade some of its vast underground storage in the region. The utility is still trying to finalize environmental reviews that wary local residents are using to question the projects.

The cash market overall retreated 28 cents Wednesday, but if multi-dollar swan dives taken by Northeast and other thinly traded points are excluded, the drop comes to a more meaningful 11 cents. Nearly all points sustained sizeable losses. Midcontinent and California locations were down by double digits, but Gulf points also weakened. At the close of futures trading May had fallen 6.9 cents to $3.900 and June was off by 6.9 cents as well to $3.950. May crude oil plunged $2.74 to $94.45 on unsupportive inventory data and weak economic news.

The physical market overall was unchanged Thursday, but that was due in large part to multi-dollar losses at constrained northeast pipelines such as Algonquin, Iroquois and portions of Tennessee. Omitting those losses from the equation results in a 6-cent market gain.

Backed by a plethora of natural gas supplies from its upstream business, ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s multi-billion-dollar plan to expand its Baytown, TX, petrochemicals complex is on track, an executive said last week at the IHS CERAWeek 2013 conference in Houston.

Backed by a plethora of natural gas supplies from its upstream business, ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s multi-billion-dollar plan to expand its Baytown, TX, petrochemicals complex is on track, an executive said Tuesday at the IHS CERAWeek 2013 conference in Houston.

Cash prices fell 13 cents on average Thursday, but if the big-dollar losses sustained on Algonquin, Iroquois, as well as portions of Tennessee and Transco are factored out, the market fell only a penny.

The state of Texas is losing billions of dollar because of tax rate deductions for shale gas wells using hydraulic fracturing that are classified as “high cost wells,” according to a report by the state Legislative Budget Board (LBB).

Physical gas prices continued to advance Wednesday, posting an average gain of 12 cents overall. Multi-dollar gains permeated eastern delivery points, and Midwest locations also were firm. At the close of trading February futures had slipped 2.0 cents to $3.435 and March was down 1.6 cents to $3.437. February crude oil added 96 cents to $94.24/bbl.

With few exceptions, all points scored at least double-digit gains Monday with some points putting in dollar-plus moves as cold weather sliced into the West over the weekend and was forecast to march eastward. On average gains were 28 cents overall, with the volatile Northeast points scoring the most gains. At the close February natural gas futures had added 4.6 cents to $3.373 and March was higher by 4.2 cents to $3.378. February crude oil gained 58 cents to $94.14/bbl.