Failed

Traders expecting fireworks on the expiration of February natural gas futures were sorely disappointed Wednesday as the contract failed at an early push to higher prices and ended up going off the board at $4.476, down 2.7 cents. Before taking over as the new front-month contract, March natural gas on Wednesday dropped 2.5 cents to close at $4.420.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season — which ends every year on Nov. 30 — in 2008 produced a record number of consecutive storms to strike the United States and was one of the more active seasons in the 64 years since comprehensive record-keeping began, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Several retreating Northeast citygates failed to join rebounds from weekend weakness in the rest of the cash market Monday. In addition to prior-trading day support from Friday’s 16.4-cent rally by December futures and the return of industrial load from weekend hiatus, heating demand was picking up again in the Midwest and South after brief warming trends going into the weekend.

Northern Natural Gas declared a force majeure late Wednesday afternoon for the Spearman (TX) Compressor Station, saying the dehydration unit had failed. It was not known when repairs could be completed, but until then station capacity will be limited to 50,000 Dth/d.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, Friday vacated a FERC order approving an expansion of Dominion Cove Point LP’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Lusby, MD, ruling that the evidence did not support the agency’s conclusion that a DC-based utility can fix widespread leaks on its system before the expansion goes into operation.

Ohio regulators should reject Dominion East Ohio’s request to increase rates because the utility has failed to prove its need, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) said in testimony before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) last week. Further, the OCC opposes a proposal to increase the proportion of distribution costs recovered from a fixed rather than a volumetric charge.

Ohio regulators should reject Dominion East Ohio’s request to increase rates because the utility has failed to prove its need, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) said in testimony before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) Monday. Further, the OCC opposes a proposal to increase the proportion of distribution costs recovered from a fixed rather than a volumetric charge.

Senate Democrats’ efforts to pass climate change legislation this year came to a screeching halt Friday when the chamber failed to obtain the required 60 votes needed to move forward with the bill.

Strong support by descendants of John D. Rockefeller, who founded forerunner Standard Oil, failed to persuade ExxonMobil Corp. shareholders last week to vote in favor of creating an independent chairman. Shareholders also defeated measures that would have required the oil giant to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.