Heavily

Producers in Western Canada, who were already heavily dependent on natural gas, increased their weighting from oil to gas even more during 1Q2009, according to a survey conducted by Canadian research firm Bryan Mills Iradesso.

The increasing lack of weather-based demand weighed even more heavily on the cash market Friday, with prices falling at a large majority of points. And unlike the single-digit changes that had prevailed through Thursday last week, most of Friday’s losses exceeded a dime. The previous day’s futures drop of 12.3 cents was an additional negative influence on cash quotes.

Primarily due to some serious cooling load developing across the southern half of the U.S. (especially in the more heavily populated South) and abetted by a smidgen of chilly weather remaining in the forecast for the upper Northeast, the cash market was able to shrug off the previous day’s 2.9-cent decline by May futures and rise at a majority of points Wednesday.

Independent producers have faced downturns before, but companies that are heavily leveraged — such as those that borrowed to gain entry into the cash-intensive natural gas shales and tight sands — face liquidity problems and “survival risks” without the full support of their lenders, Moody’s Investors Service reported last week.

Independent producers have faced downturns before, but companies that are heavily leveraged — such as those that borrowed to gain entry into the cash-intensive natural gas shales and tight sands — face liquidity problems and “survival risks” without the full support of their lenders, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report Monday.

With the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) spewing red ink and heavily propped up by the British government, the high-profile, highly profitable joint venture trading operation between a unit of the bank and San Diego-based Sempra Energy has become the subject of much speculation and questioning.

With the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) spewing red ink and heavily propped up by the British government, the high-profile, highly profitable joint venture trading operation between a unit of the bank and San Diego-based Sempra Energy has become the subject of much speculation and questioning.

The 30-inch diameter mainline of the Discovery offshore gathering system in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike in September, has been repaired and is back in service, Williams Partners LP said last Wednesday.

The 30-inch diameter mainline of the Discovery offshore gathering system in the Gulf of Mexico, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike in September, has been repaired and is back in service, Williams Partners LP said Wednesday.