Injection

Southern California Gas reported regaining 340 MMcf/d of withdrawal capacity and 125 MMcf/d of injection capacity at its Goleta storage facility Wednesday following completion of two planned high-inventory shut-in outages.

November natural gas rose Thursday after a government report showed a smaller injection into gas storage than what analysts were expecting. The 10:30 a.m. EDT report by the Energy Information Administration showed a build of 103 Bcf, about 5 Bcf less than what was anticipated. At the close November had added 4.4 cents to $3.630 and December gained 2.1 cents to $3.834. November crude oil fell 81 cents to $85.30/bbl.

CIG canceled Wednesday a Strained Operating Condition (SOC) that had been declared Sept. 23 due to high storage inventory levels at that point in the injection season. See the bulletin board for service changes that went into effect upon the ending of the SOC.

As Ohio awaits results of preliminary Utica Shale wells, industry leaders told an audience in Columbus last week that the play, if successful, could revive the state’s manufacturing sector.

October natural gas continued to erode Thursday as traders digested a government report of an above-average injection of 89 Bcf. The decline was less than some expected, and analysts noted the relative resilience of natural gas to an otherwise deteriorating oil and equity market environment. October slipped 2.5 cents to $3.705 and November retreated 3.8 cents to $3.782. November crude oil imploded $5.41 to $80.51/bbl.

Citing limited operational flexibility and storage injection capability, along with high linepack, Tennessee said a systemwide Imbalance Warning to guard against the creation of excessive positive imbalances will take effect Wednesday. Operators of receipt/delivery points must observe the Imbalance Warning requirements “regardless of their cumulative imbalance position,” the pipeline said.

With some support from the previous Friday’s futures advance, the cash market was finding enough increases in colder weather either already in place or imminent to realize gains at a sizeable majority of locations the board Monday.

The trend of near-flat pricing earlier this week continued Thursday. Any remaining storage injection buying and the previous day’s minuscule gain of 1.1 cent by November futures were largely offset by mild weather virtually everywhere outside parts of the desert Southwest and by the continuing lack of any tropical storm threat to Gulf of Mexico production.

Due to an engine failure at MRT’s Unionville Storage facilities, starting Wednesday through approximately Aug. 6 the pipeline will be limited in injection capability there. See the bulletin board for associated transport restrictions.