Increasing

Unusually warm winter weather and the ongoing production boom from the nation’s shale plays will help keep natural gas spot prices down in 2012, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) said in separate reports Monday.

Generally moderate weather predictions, such as the Chicago area reaching the low to mid 50s Tuesday, didn’t suggest any likelihood of spot prices increasing Monday. But cash traders either thought otherwise or were looking ahead to near the end of the week, when cold fronts would be moving into such areas as the Midwest.

Onsite power with low emissions and maintenance is an increasing necessity for operators in burgeoning oil and gas shale plays, and a couple of Southern California-based manufacturers are seeking markets for their distributed generation devices (see Shale Daily, Dec. 28, 2011).

Southwestern Energy Services Co. (SESC), an anchor shipper on a Millennium Pipeline expansion project that will transport Marcellus Shale gas, has urged FERC to approve the mostly compression expansion of Millennium by Feb. 1 so that it can be in operation by Nov. 1, delivering additional supplies to Northeast and New England markets.

Gastar Exploration Ltd. achieved its goal of increasing Marcellus Shale production in northern West Virginia this year, and now the Houston-based company is setting the same goal for itself in the coming year.

Sending a message to the natural gas industry, California regulators last Thursday unanimously handed out the biggest fine ever for a gas utility, increasing a penalty to $38 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for a fatal distribution pipeline failure and explosion on Christmas Eve in 2008 in a Sacramento suburb.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appears poised to call a special session of the legislature in mid-December to discuss, and hopefully pass, a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill.

Sending a message to the natural gas industry, California regulators on Thursday handed out the biggest penalty ever for a gas utility, increasing a penalty to $38 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for a fatal distribution pipeline failure and explosion on Christmas Eve in 2008 in a Sacramento suburb.

A committee of West Virginia legislators has finalized a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill and is urging Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to call a special session for its passage.