Evidence

John Hanger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said late last week he had seen no evidence that hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) chemicals used to drill for shale gas contaminate underground water supplies.

Citing the apparent trading irregularities of Amaranth Advisors LLC and large positions taken by the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG) as evidence of the need for aggressive action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Thursday voted out a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would set limits on speculative trading of exchange-traded futures and options contracts in major energy markets.

Canada’s Arctic pipeline project is braced for natural gas prices to stagnate in a tepid trading range of US$4.85-6.25/MMBtu for the next 20 years, according to new evidence before the National Energy Board (NEB).

Canada’s Arctic pipeline project is braced for natural gas prices to stagnate in a tepid trading range of US$4.85-6.25/MMBtu for the next 20 years, according to new evidence before the National Energy Board (NEB).

Canada’s Arctic pipeline project is braced for natural gas prices to stagnate in a tepid trading range of US$4.85-6.25/MMBtu for the next 20 years, according to new evidence before the National Energy Board (NEB).

Even with springtime weather becoming more in evidence in nearly all areas as the Easter weekend approaches, prices saw fairly substantive gains at nearly all points Wednesday. The screen breaking a recent losing streak with a 5.7-cent rally Tuesday obviously played a role, but sources suggested several other minor factors that may have combined into an up day for cash.

Even with springtime weather becoming more in evidence in nearly all areas as the Easter weekend approaches, prices saw fairly substantive gains at nearly all points Wednesday. The screen breaking a recent losing streak with a 5.7-cent rally Tuesday obviously played a role, but sources suggested several other minor factors that may have combined into an up day for cash.

Citing the apparent trading irregularities of Amaranth Advisors LLC and large positions taken by the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG) as evidence of the need for action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Thursday voted out a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would set limits on speculative trading of exchange-traded futures and options contracts in major energy markets.

El Paso Natural Gas Co. said there was no evidence of corrosion, weld defects, prior gas leakage or slow-developing cracks in the “branch” or “tap” connection of a pipeline that ruptured and exploded Nov. 5 in Bushland, TX. “Instead, we learned the rupture was the result of an upward force on the branch connection that put pressure on a small area on the carrier pipe that contained a ‘lamination.’ The force on the lamination caused a fracture to develop in the lamination near the weld of the branch connection to the carrier pipe, resulting in the rupture,” El Paso said. A lamination is a tiny area of separation within a pipe wall where the metal has not properly bonded to itself, and the lamination feature was not a defect under the regulations of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the company said. Stress Engineering Services Inc. conducted the metallurgical analysis; “We don’t know yet what caused the upward force on the branch connection,” El Paso said. Information about the investigation is at www.elpaso.com/bushlandinfo.