Index

The number and volume of natural gas transactions — according to FERC Form 552 submissions from up to 680 respondents — were in decline during 2008 to 2014 and flattened in 2015. However, that trend has improved somewhat in 2016, executives with two price reporting agencies (PRA) said in Houston on Tuesday.

FERC has approved index price changes in their respective tariffs proposed by multiple pipelines owned/operated by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) to reference index prices published by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) instead of those published by Intercontinental Exchange as the latter will soon cease to exist as an independent publisher of natural gas price indexes. The pipelines affected are Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline Co LLC [RP17-508]; Sierrita Gas Pipeline LLC [RP17-509]; Ruby Pipeline LLC [RP17-512]; El Paso Natural Gas Co. LLC [RP17-504]; Wyoming Interstate Co. LLC [RP17-505]; and Colorado Interstate Gas Co. LLC [RP17-486]. Also making similar changes in index pricing to NGIare KMI’s Young Gas Storage Co. Ltd. [RP17-484] and Keystone Gas Storage LLC [PR17-30]. NGI, which has been publishing wholesale natural gas prices for more than 30 years, is an approved price reporting agency in compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2003 policy statement [PL03-3] on wholesale natural gas and electricity price indexes.

Higher prices for oil and natural gas, as well as increased drilling activity, drove the Oklahoma Energy Index to its fastest increase in more than five years, according to the providers of the index.

Inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon and Singapore Exchange (SGX) said Monday they will launch a spot pricing index for the Middle East and Indian liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.

Energy firm activity accelerated in the final three months of 2016 and the “future activity outlook also improved considerably” across the Midcontinent, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Fed) said Friday.

A tariff change that was approved by FERC on Jan. 9 and went into effect on Jan. 10 granting ISO-New England (ISO-NE) permission to base certain price thresholds on Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) Citygates Non-G pricing hub, rather than on the ICE AGT Citygates pricing hub, brought to light the issue of non-liquidity and its impact on daily business.

Halliburton Co. is ready to hire more than 200 people in the Permian Basin for “all of its product service lines and support functions,” a spokeswoman confirmed Friday, further evidence that the oil and natural gas industry is gearing up for better days following a two-year slump.

FERC is considering modifications to its policies for evaluating oil pipeline index rate changes and data reporting requirements that would make it easier for shippers to challenge rates that they believe exceed industry costs.

For the first time in two years, oil and natural gas operators reported a “modest increase” during the third quarter, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which serves Colorado, Kansas, the western third of Missouri, Nebraska, the northern half of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.