Friendly

With the heat wave still in effect in a number of U.S. regions and conditions in the tropics becoming more friendly for hurricane development, natural gas futures traders on Friday extended Thursday’s rally. The September contract recorded a high of $6.950 before closing out the day at $6.820, up 23.4 cents from Thursday’s close and 73 cents higher than the previous Friday’s finish.

The industry is seeing a slowdown in the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal projects in the energy-friendly Gulf Coast region due to concerns over the price environment for imports, said Hess LNG CEO Gordon Shearer last Tuesday.

The industry is seeing a slowdown in the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal projects in the energy-friendly Gulf Coast region due to concerns over the price environment for imports, said Hess LNG CEO Gordon Shearer Tuesday.

The natural gas industry needs to spend more time targeting members of Congress who aren’t traditionally viewed as energy-friendly, said a top staff member for Oklahoma Democrat Rep. Dan. Boren Thursday.

The natural gas industry needs to spend more time targeting members of Congress who aren’t traditionally viewed as energy-friendly, said a top staff member for Oklahoma Democrat Rep. Dan. Boren Thursday.

Despite the potential for an Atlantic Hurricane development friendly La Nina event, natural gas futures traders sided with warming temperatures Wednesday as the April contract continued to work lower for a third consecutive session. The prompt month recorded a low of $7.250 before settling at $7.300, down 23.3 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Pirate Capital LLC, owner of about 17.6 million shares of Aquila Inc. — the target of two friendly acquisitions announced this week — said Friday it opposes Aquila’s proposed deals with Great Plains Energy and Black Hills Corp. (see Daily GPI, Feb. 8).

Key energy-friendly lawmakers are optimistic that the House will pass Tuesday the Senate’s more limited offshore drilling bill that would open parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas producers. However, they warned that this would be just a first step, and that efforts already are under way to push for passage of a more expanded Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) drilling bill in the 110th Congress.

In a friendly deal, Canadian natural gas producer Shiningbank Energy Income Fund has agreed to buy Calgary-based Find Energy Ltd. for C$381 million ($338 million). The deal will boost Shiningbank’s weighted-to-gas output by 22%, pumping up production to 27,000 boe/d from its current 4,900 boe/d.