Ground

A squabble has broken out in British Columbia (BC) as a sharp reminder to natural gas producers that they are treading on tricky ground as they expand supply development northwards.

A squabble has broken out in British Columbia (BC) as a sharp reminder to natural gas producers that they are treading on tricky ground as they expand supply development northwards.

July natural gas futures ground lower in listless trading Friday as traders cited the bearish mantra of expected strong injections into gas storage and a lack of weather in populous energy markets. Short-term traders expect prices to fall early next week.

July natural gas futures gained ground Thursday in spite of a government inventory report showing injections above trader expectations and inventories well above historical norms. A strong performance by July crude oil, which more than made up for Wednesday’s $2.43/bbl drubbing, also helped the bullish cause.

Mirroring the performance of the industry as a whole, XTO Energy Inc. said last week it is pulling larger amounts of gas out of the ground even as it trims the number of rigs it has in operation.

Mirroring the performance of the industry as a whole, XTO Energy Inc. said Wednesday it is pulling larger amounts of gas out of the ground even as it trims the number of rigs it has in operation.

Subsidies for compressed natural gas (CNG) in Utah continued to gain ground Wednesday when Gov. Jon Huntsman signed into law a bill allowing the state Public Service Commission to continue to authorize a gas rate for natural gas vehicles (NGV) that is below the actual cost of service.

AGL Resources’ Virginia Natural Gas broke ground Monday for its Hampton Roads Crossing (HRX) pipeline, which will connect its northern and southern pipeline systems for the first time by crossing the Hampton Roads harbor.

Cash prices were able to recover Monday all of the ground they had lost Friday and more as numbers moved higher at all but two points. There was cooling load developing in the South and Southwest, still-substantive heating load on both sides of long stretches of the U.S.-Canadian border, support from the 20.4-cent advance by May futures Friday and the return of industrial demand from its typical weekend hiatus.