Maintain

Unable to maintain the upside momentum that natural gas cash points have enjoyed for most of the last week and a half, averages on Wednesday fell in a big way, which just so happened to coincide with the first significant decline in front-month natural gas futures since the contract rollover on April 29.

BP plc CEO Tony Hayward said Tuesday natural gas needs to become a bigger part of the U.S. energy picture. Congress should find a better way to maintain jobs than by “preserving them in the coal industry,” he told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

BP plc CEO Tony Hayward said Tuesday natural gas needs to become a bigger part of the U.S. energy picture. Congress should find a better way to maintain jobs than by “preserving them in the coal industry,” he told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

Tennessee lifted a Critical Day 2 OFO at the start of Wednesday’s gas day, but that afternoon it said that due to colder temperatures and in order to maintain linepack, a Critical Day 1 OFO would become effective Friday until further notice in Zones 0, 1, L and 2 (see the bulletin board for details). Tennessee said it will continue to monitor Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6, and implement an OFO in those zones if necessary. The pipeline ended a force majeure late Tuesday evening at Station 47.

A $7.50/Mcf natural gas price in 2010 would provide the economic impetus to lift drilling activity enough to maintain market balance, even with an anticipated 20% decline in oilfield service price deflation, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (STRH) energy analysts said last week.

A $7.50/Mcf natural gas price in 2010 would provide the economic impetus to lift drilling activity enough to maintain market balance, even with an anticipated 20% decline in oilfield service price deflation, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (STRH) energy analysts said Thursday.

Due to anticipated colder temperatures and in order to maintain linepack, Tennessee said an OFO Action Alert will become effective Sunday “for all LMS-PA Balancing Parties (including SA contracts acting as balancing parties), LMS-MA and LMS-PL Balancing Parties with meters located in Zones 4, 5 and 6.” Affected shippers are limited to an imbalance tolerance of 2% or 500 Dth, whichever is greater.

Due to colder market-area temperatures and in order to maintain its linepack, Tennessee is issuing a Critical Day 1 OFO, effective Thursday until further notice, “for all LMS-PA Balancing Parties (including SA contracts acting as balancing parties), LMS-MA, and LMS-PL Balancing Parties with meters located in Zones 1, L, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.” The tolerance for negative daily imbalances will be 2% of scheduled quantities or 500 Dth, whichever is greater.

A major interstate pipeline group called on President-elect Obama last Wednesday to maintain the existing statutory authority under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) that gives FERC exclusive jurisdiction over the siting and approval of interstate natural gas pipelines.