Lesser

The lesser prairie-chicken has been listed as "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the agency said Thursday. The declaration comes with a rule intended to limit the impact of the listing on landowners and businesses, such as those in the oil and gas industry.

In the medium- and long-term the prospects for natural gas-fired power generation look “sound” for North America and Europe in particular and to a lesser extent worldwide, according to a report from London-based Frost & Sullivan (F&S).

The Northeast, Great Lakes and Southwest areas of the United States will remain mostly warmer than normal over the next three months, continuing a trend that kept a lid on natural gas consumption and prices through most of the winter, according to forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI). But conditions may be ripe for a cooler-than-normal summer overall this year, WSI said.

Prices continued to spike at Northeast citygates Tuesday, and they were joined by lesser displays of strength at some locations in the Midcontinent and West Texas. However, softer numbers again ruled in a moderate majority of the cash market despite a new winter storm moving into the South and lows around zero or lower being forecast for much of the Midwest.

Buoyed by the previous day’s 30.8-cent spike in July futures and to a lesser degree by continuing hot weather from the western end of the South through inland California, cash prices continued to rise at a large majority of points Tuesday. However, the fact that the latest gains were considerably smaller than Monday’s in most cases and were accompanied by a few fairly significant losses signified that the market was starting to take heed of generally light weather-based load.

Forecasts of widespread areas of cooling rain in the Midwest and Northeast — and to a lesser degree in the South — along with a cold front due to move into much of the Midwest caused prices to retreat at most points Wednesday. Tuesday’s modest 6.9-cent slide in August futures also played a minor role in the overall softness.

Retail rates for Oregon’s three natural gas utilities will increase Nov. 1, but to a lesser extent than previously anticipated, the Oregon Public Utility Commission announced Wednesday. In each case the higher rates reflect higher wholesale commodity charges for gas, the PUC said.

Range Resources said it increased its natural gas hedge position, adding natural gas swaps in 2007 and 2008. The 2007 natural gas swaps average $9.34 per MMBtu, with the 2008 swaps averaging $9.42. To a lesser degree, additional natural gas collars were added in the third and fourth quarters of 2006. “With approximately 80% of Range’s reserves being natural gas, we have locked in outstanding prices on a significant portion of our production for the remainder of 2006 and for all of 2007 and 2008,” said CEO John H. Pinkerton. “With 15% production growth targeted for 2006 and 2007 combined with the attractive hedge prices, we anticipate generating record financial results. Importantly, the increased hedge position will allow us to aggressively pursue our growth strategy while continuing to build our financial strength.”

With heat levels rising significantly across the southern half of the U.S. and to a lesser extent in the Lower Midwest and Central/Upper Plains, the increase in power generation loads were enough to push prices higher at all points Monday despite futures weakness on the preceding Friday.