Inject

Six major producers in the Marcellus Shale say they expect to recycle or inject all of their wastewater by the end of the year, according to information released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday.

Kern River, which had noted low linepack in a bulletin board posting Monday morning, said its system lost an additional 50,000 Dth during that gas day. That prompted the pipeline to bar any shipper drafting in a critical notice Tuesday. Kern River said it will curtail physical flows if necessary and asked customers with due-pipe imbalances to schedule payback. In response to Kern River’s situation, Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas issued a Hold Burn to Scheduled Quantities notice effective Monday until further notice.

Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. last week was said to be negotiating to gain a partner to inject needed funding into its cash-poor natural gas shale plays, but instead, the independent gained some negotiating room by selling its midstream operations.

Even with much of the Gulf of Mexico’s natural gas production shut in, storage operators were able to inject a whopping 87 Bcf into underground storage for the week ended Sept. 26, which turned the keys back over to natural gas bears for the time being. Following the Thursday morning report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), November natural gas futures dropped nearly 30 cents before finishing out the session at $7.481, down 24.7 cents from Wednesday’s close.

Even with the Gulf of Mexico shut-in from hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the natural gas industry was still able to inject a healthy 67 Bcf into underground storage for the week ended Sept. 12, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The injection was large enough to bring October natural gas futures back well below $8 in Thursday trade.

After bouncing off the $6.67 area for the second straight session, November natural gas futures ended by settling Friday at $6.709, down 9.4 cents. The remaining four months in the winter strip also closed lower, but by much smaller margins.

WPS Energy Services, Inc., a subsidiary of WPS Resources Corp., has started to inject gas into its new Kimball 27 Gas Storage facility in St Clair, MI. The 3 Bcf storage facility interconnects with ANR Pipeline, and through ANR has access to Michigan Consolidated Gas and Union’s Dawn Hub in Ontario. The facility also has access to both Great Lakes Gas Transmission and Vector Pipeline. “Michigan geology allowed for the cost-effective construction of this storage facility,” said Dan Verbanac, WPS Energy Services senior vice president. “The design of the system will allow for increased reliability and greater flexibility in meeting our customers’ peak day energy requirements.” More information on WPS Energy Services and this facility is available on the WPS Energy Services web site located at http://www.wpsenergy.com

Hoping to inject life into its dwindling stock price, CMS EnergyCorp. announced drastic measures last week, including an aggressivestock buy-back plan and intentions to create a tracking stock forthe jewel in CMS’ crown — Consumers Energy.

Hoping to inject life into its dwindling stock price, CMS EnergyCorp. announced drastic measures yesterday, including an aggressivestock buy-back plan and intentions to create a tracking stock forthe jewel in CMS’ crown — Consumers Energy.