Drain

Despite a few weeks of colder-than-normal temperatures across much of the United States, natural gas inventories are slow to drain, which has kept downward pressure on natural gas prices. According to one energy analyst, the current depression in natural gas prices is likely to continue at least into the spring.

With the natural gas futures market’s recent failures to get above $8.620, some traders, citing not enough cold or winter left to drain storage to price-pressuring levels, are forecasting lower prices. The March contract on Wednesday settled at $8.388, down 4.8 cents from Tuesday.

The House Resources Committee Wednesday voted out by a wide margin amended legislation that seeks to open currently closed portions of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas drilling and increase coastal states’ share of revenues from offshore production.

Energy is the “biggest single challenge for the next few decades,” but because fewer graduates are entering the field, the next generation needs to be inspired with a sense of mission to “save the world,” a Nobel Prize winning scientist said Tuesday during a Global Energy Management Institute (GEMI) forum at the University of Houston.

Energy is the “biggest single challenge for the next few decades,” but because fewer graduates are entering the field, the next generation needs to be inspired with a sense of mission to “save the world,” a Nobel Prize winning scientist said Tuesday during a Global Energy Management Institute (GEMI) forum at the University of Houston.