enery prices

TransCanada Corp. moved Thursday to calm a hornets’ nest of protest among its natural gas customers in Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States by making a formal promise to maintain service continuity.

Five of the top oil and natural gas producers in the world last week failed to impress with their 2Q2013 earnings reports, with Royal Dutch Shell plc causing the most talk after it wrote off more than $2 billion on the value of some liquids-rich properties in North America.

A study of Barnett Shale region water wells has found elevated levels of heavy metals near natural gas extraction sites, but a link to drilling/production activity has not been determined and may not be, researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) said.

Encana Corp. was given the green light on Friday to start up the long-awaited Deep Panuke natural gas project offshore Nova Scotia.

Onshore drilling efficiencies and multi-pad drilling has begun to tell the tale in North America’s onshore unconventionals, with super independents ConocoPhillips, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp. all reporting stronger-than-ever production.

This year’s unseasonably cool summer in parts of the eastern United States and a natural gas supply glut brought on by the country’s shale production boom are continuing to put downward pressure on natural gas prices, as evidenced byNGI’s August Bidweek Survey. The national spot gas average for the month dropped 21 cents from July to average $3.45/MMBtu.

With screen prices at a three-month low it’s no surprise that July bidweek came in a bit soft.NGI’s National Spot Gas Average for July bidweek came in at $3.66, a 48-cent decline from June 2013, but 94 cents higher than the July 2012 bidweek average.

NGI Daily Price Index reported last week that Potomac ElectricPower Co. hoped to sell nearly all of its power generationfacilities — with an estimated capacity of at about 6,055 MW —for an “upside price” of about $3 million. Pepco later correctedthe figure to $3 billion. Pepco further said it hoped to narrow thefield of serious bidders to between six and a dozen by March.

In NGI’s story, “El Paso Pulls Off FTC-Required Sellathon” inthe previous issue (see NGI, Jan. 10), it is erroneously statedthat CMS Energy Corp. purchased both the Sea Robin pipeline and ashare of the Destin Pipeline from El Paso Energy. CMS onlypurchased Sea Robin whereas the Destin Pipeline was sold to anundisclosed party. NGI regrets the error.