Gas

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a proposed order that it said would codify best practices for benefit-cost analysis in rulemakings and provide clarity for states, local communities and industry.

Natural gas futures were slightly lower but still range bound to finish the week as the July Nymex contract swung in a less than 10-cent band before settling Friday at $1.782, off 4.0 cents day/day. August was down 3.1 cents to $1.886.

The oil market may begin to recover next month, but U.S. midstream companies still face a “challenging” environment as cash flow, low pipeline utilization and other factors may stall a return to financial health, according to Wood Mackenzie.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, aka OPEC-plus, on Saturday agreed to extend May and June oil supply cuts for another month to continue rebalancing an oversupplied global crude market.

Hydraulic fracturing expert BJ Services said Thursday it is ready to deploy a next-generation pump in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale after completing a 1,000-hour field trial in the Haynesville Shale fueled by natural gas.

Many U.S. oil and gas operators may view overseas demand as the best option for growth, but Canada continues to be the largest source of domestic energy imports and the second largest export destination, behind only Mexico, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday.

Facing a 13.3% national unemployment rate and the negative impacts of continuing Covid-19 mitigation efforts, President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order (EO) directing federal agencies to “take all reasonable measures to speed infrastructure investments and to speed other actions in addition to such investments that will strengthen the economy and return Americans to work,” including setting aside some Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act restrictions.

Natural gas futures crept up early Thursday following a smaller-than-expected storage injection, but significant momentum proved difficult to gather amid ongoing demand uncertainty and the specter of a tropical storm nearing the Gulf Coast. The July Nymex contract traded in a narrow range of gains and losses throughout the day and settled at $1.822/MMBtu, up one-tenth of a cent day/day. August rose two-tenths of a cent to $1.917.

The U.S. rig count dropped another 17 units to fall to 284 for the week ending Friday as the latest Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) numbers showed domestic drilling activity still searching for a bottom even after months of retrenchment.