Limited

Limited demand for natural gas could keep 9 Bcf/d of production from shale plays off the market over the next four years, a Bentek Energy LLC executivetold an audience in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Limited demand for natural gas could keep 9 Bcf/d of production off the market over the next four years, a Bentek Energy LLC executive told an audience in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) earned record profits in the first quarter as rig counts grew in liquids-rich shales and low natural gas prices spurred petrochemical demand. The company continues to see opportunities “to serve our customers, both producers and consumers,” COO Jim Teague said during a conference call Tuesday.

May natural gas futures were limited to a narrow 6-cent trading range and fell nominally as risk managers noted an uninspired market, and described their methodology for wringing value from a low-volatility trading environment. At the close May had eased 2.3 cents to $4.389 and June shed 1.4 cents to $4.452. June crude oil lost a penny to $112.28/bbl.

Noting that it has limited operational flexibility to manage imbalances due to testing of its Bear Creek storage fields, Tennessee said it would implement Saturday a systemwide Imbalance Warning that requires all delivery point operators to keep actual daily takes out of the system equal to or greater than scheduled quantities and all receipt point operators to keep actual daily receipts into the system equal to or less than scheduled quantities. Both conditions apply regardless of an operator’s cumulative imbalance position. The pipeline also declared a force majeure Thursday night in connection with a leak on its line 3 section downstream of Station 110 near Moorehead, KY. Tennessee said it immediately activated its emergency response plan and dispatched personnel to the scene to close valves and isolate the segment between Main Line Valves 111-3 and 111-3A. Based on current nominations, Tennessee did not anticipate any outage-related service restrictions for the gas days of Thursday and Friday.

Pacific Gas and Electric did not extend a systemwide Stage 2 low-inventory OFO beyond Thursday.

Targeting natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) production from shale plays in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania; and conventional production from the Gulf of Mexico, Crosstex Energy Inc. unit Crosstex Energy LP has completed and brought online two expansions of its natural gas gathering system in the Barnett Shale in North Texas and has reactivated its Eunice NGL fractionator in south central Louisiana.

Following Quebec’s announcement in early March that hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) would be limited for the next two years, British Columbia officials reassured the public last week that it was a safe practice and would continue in their province.

Following Quebec’s announcement in early March that hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) would be limited for the next two years, British Columbia officials reassured the public this week that it was a safe practice and would continue in their province.