Lack

Based on “the urgency of the situation caused by the nexus between the upcoming storage injection season and the lack of clarity in Commission policy,” Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc. has submitted an emergency request for expedited action on FERC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to remove the price cap on short-term releases of transportation capacity and provide a partial exemption for capacity released under asset management arrangements (AMA).

Based on “the urgency of the situation caused by the nexus between the upcoming storage injection season and the lack of clarity in Commission policy,” Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc. has submitted an emergency request for expedited action on FERC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to remove the price cap on short-term releases of transportation capacity and provide a partial exemption for capacity released under asset management arrangements (AMA).

The lack of commitment to liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the United States and Canada in the form of long-term contracts means the top half of North America is “flying standby” in the global gas market, write analysts at Barclays Capital.

The lack of commitment to liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the United States and Canada in the form of long-term contracts means the top half of North America is “flying standby” in the global gas market, write analysts at Barclays Capital.

Prices continued to fall in most cases Friday based on limited weather-based demand in some regions, a growing lack of storage injection capacity and the drop of industrial load that accompanies a weekend market. Some points kept mixed price movement in play with gains that were largely derived from either cold weather or an end of storage and/or transportation constraints.

The weather (or lack thereof), record storage levels and the credit crunch are likely to dominate and pressure natural gas pricing across the United States for at least two months and up to the end of the year, according to several energy analysts.

Prices continued to fall at most points Thursday as prior-day screen weakness, moderate cooling load outside the southern half of the U.S. and the lack of a viable new tropical storm threat continued to weigh on the cash market. However, rising temperatures in the Northeast after an unusually cool spell for mid-August generated flat to more than 15 cents higher quotes at most regional citygates.

A majority of the cash market continued to fall Wednesday, and for a change the Rockies joined in the overall price movement direction. The continuing lack of substantive cooling load in what normally is a time of high power generation demand and prior-day screen weakness again depressed the market.

The lack of any sense of immediacy surrounding the building of a coastal LNG terminal in California was illustrated by the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) denial on June 21 of a request by the state’s major natural gas utilities to modify rules that could apply to connecting a terminal to the existing intrastate backbone transmission pipeline system and its ties to markets east of California.