Minutes

After dancing around the issue for a few minutes, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz Thursday said the department plans to “move expeditiously” on applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements (FTA).

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that his office has opened an investigation of a crude oil spill near Mayflower, AR, which ExxonMobil was working to clean up. The cause of the spill is still under investigation, but Exxon said the spill did not involve tar sands oil.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun working with the state’s Attorney General’s Office to review allegations that Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Encana Corp. worked together to avoid competing in state lease auctions two years ago.

After running higher prior to Monday’s regular trading session, the March natural gas futures contract peaked at $5.679 just a few minutes after the open before declining for the rest of the day. The prompt-month contract finished out the regular session at $5.401, down 11.4 cents from Friday’s close.

After running higher prior to Monday’s regular trading session, the March natural gas futures contract peaked at $5.679 just a few minutes after the open before declining for the rest of the day. The prompt-month contract finished out the regular session at $5.401, down 11.4 cents from Friday’s close.

After quickly recording a low at $5.621 just minutes into Friday’s regular session, February natural gas futures climbed the rest of the day to close at $5.749, still down 5.7 cents from Thursday’s close but 17.7 cents higher than the previous week’s finish. News of a potential warm-up during the Jan. 11-15 week could have had something to do with the weakness Thursday and Friday.

If you don’t like the direction of the natural gas futures market, wait five minutes and it is likely to change. Proving once again that the market can be volatile, the December contract on Monday bounced higher after testing below the $7.00 support area in early trading.

If you don’t like the direction of the natural gas futures market, wait five minutes and it is likely to change. Proving once again that the market can be volatile, the December contract on Monday bounced higher after testing below the $7.00 support area in early trading.

Starting off 2004 right, Houston-based Swift Energy Co. said Monday that it has set a new company record for quarterly production for 1Q2004, attaining at least 14.1 Bcfe, an increase of 9% over 1Q2003 production of 12.9 Bcfe and at least 5% greater than the 13.4 Bcfe of production in the fourth quarter in 2003.