Grip

If the only newspaper you read is The New York Times, you could be forgiven for thinking that all the news about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is bad. Still, the good news about fracking — energy security, economic development and jobs — is often drowned out by environmental worries, former commodities trader, analyst, energy author and New Yorker Raymond Learsy told NGI’s Shale Daily.

Cold weather will dominate the West over the next three months, while warmer-than-normal temperatures that are expected to be in place in the Northeast in January will move out of much of the region in February and colder-than-normal air will be firmly in control by March, according to forecaster WSI Corp. of Andover, MA.

Cold weather will dominate the West over the next three months, while warmer-than-normal temperatures that are expected to be in place in the Northeast in January will move out of much of the region in February and colder-than-normal air will be firmly in control by March, according to forecaster WSI Corp. of Andover, MA.

As a heat wave continued to grip most of the eastern third of the United States, cash market points were a little less unanimous on Tuesday in terms of price direction than they were on Monday, when they were almost universally higher. Taking their cue from Monday’s 8.9-cent drop in near-month natural gas futures, most eastern points and Gulf Coast points saw drops, while the Midcontinent and western locations saw continued strength.

Devon Energy Corp. tightened its grip on the Barnett Shale on Thursday, completing its $2.2 billion acquisition of privately held Chief Holdings LLC (see Daily GPI, May 3). Devon will now be producing almost half of the overall production from the Barnett, considered the largest natural gas field in Texas.

Starting off on the wrong foot, Republican and Democratic congressional conferees directed to come up with a comprehensive energy bill reached the end of their first week of negotiations deeply divided over how to proceed in the second and third weeks. In addition, Senate leader Pete Domenici, R-NM, said he would stand by his deal to hold off FERC standard market design (SMD) action through 2006, and the administration published its energy bill wish list.

With winter displaying a surprisingly tenacious grip on Canadian and northern U.S. weather into the weekend, the market proved to be firmer Friday than many had expected. Once again flatness was the dominant price theme as most points were about a nickel or less up or down from unchanged.

Severe winter-like conditions continued to tighten their icy grip Wednesday, but only San Juan/Rockies points were still experiencing rising prices. Perhaps in anticipation of an approaching easing of the harsh weather blanketing Canada and most of the U.S. from the Rockies eastward, most of the cash market fell between about a nickel and 20 cents. Some Northeast citygates saw losses approaching half a dollar, while others rose a dollar or more.

Cold weather continued its grip in the Northeast, Midwest and inland West Tuesday, and extended its reach throughout the South except for the Florida peninsula. But what would normally seem to be bullish conditions were unable to prevent a broad retreat in cash prices.