Finishes

A small handful of cold, hard numbers tells why Canadian shale gas is forced to rely on elusive Asian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to thaw out drilling prospects

Grounds are being staked out for appeals to the courts even before the National Energy Board (NEB) finishes its forthcoming decision on Canada’s arctic natural gas production and pipeline project.

Front-month natural gas futures ended their four-day streak of higher finishes on Wednesday as expectations for a smallish storage draw in Thursday’s report trumped positive economic news. April natural gas futures dropped 1.8 cents on the day to close at $4.329.

In a classic example of a market that bends, but has yet to break, natural gas futures rebounded ahead of the weekend after notching a new low for the week early in Friday’s session. With that the September contract concluded a tumultuous week of trading in which three up days were not enough to overcome two days of significant losses. The contract finished at $5.533, up 9.1 cents for the day, but down 5.5 cents for the week.

Florida Gas Transmission Co. (FGT) completed the final stage of its $452 million Phase V expansion project late last week. The Citrus Corp. subsidiary said the entire Phase V expansion project provides 428 MMcf/d of incremental firm gas transportation service for its expansion customers, mainly power generators.

Florida Gas Transmission Co. (FGT) completed the final stage of its $452 million Phase V expansion project on Thursday. The Citrus Corp. subsidiary said the entire Phase V expansion project provides 428 MMcf/d of incremental firm gas transportation service for its expansion customers, mainly power generators.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technical influence to provide direction, the natural gas futures market took the path of least resistance Wednesday in extending to new nine-week lows. Although the series of lower lows and lower highs on the daily bar chart is a very real concern for bulls, they were impressed by the market’s ability to rebound off its mid-morning lows. A intense, albeit brief, sell-off in the afternoon sent prices back beneath the $5.00 mark, but that, too, became a buying opportunity. The May contract finished at $5.065, down 6 cents for the day, but up 13.5 cents from its $4.93 low.

After seeing its corporate credit rating downgraded to two levels below “junk status” and its stock skid to a low of 78 cents at one point last week, Williams Cos. Inc. got some much-needed good news Friday. First, the company announced it had reached an agreement in principle with California and a number of other parties, including Washington and Oregon, on a settlement to resolve all outstanding litigation/claims and refunds for electricity overcharges, and then FERC signaled it probably would not strip Williams of its license to sell power at unregulated rates.

After seeing its corporate credit rating downgraded to two levels below “junk status” and its stock skid to a low of 78 cents at one point last week, Williams Cos. Inc. got some much-needed good news Friday. First, the company announced it had reached an agreement in principle with California and a number of other parties, including Washington and Oregon, on a settlement to resolve all outstanding litigation/claims and refunds for electricity overcharges, and then FERC signaled it probably would not strip Williams of its license to sell power at unregulated rates.