natural gas data

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. and Union Pacific Railroad Co. have struck a deal to build a rail-accessible silica sand storage facility in Odessa, TX, a move that enables the company to bring more of its products to the Permian Basin for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.

A fire that erupted Tuesday morning at a Chevron Appalachia LLC natural gas well site in Greene County, PA continued to burn Wednesday, and it may not be clear for some time what caused it, officials said.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said Wednesday it supports federal budget measures announced Tuesday to grow Canada’s skilled trades workforce, noting that hundreds of thousands of workers will be needed to support the country’s growing oil and natural gas sector.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. plans to keep tearing it up in the Midland Basin of West Texas, where horizontal drilling in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp, as well as in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, grew reserves and production during a year that CEO Scott Sheffield said was “…the best year in Pioneer’s 17-year history.”

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) has been appointed as the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus and is expected to officially take the helm of the powerful committee following a formality vote by the full Senate Thursday.

A fire that erupted Tuesday morning at a Chevron Appalachia LLC natural gas well site in Greene County, PA continued to burn Wednesday, and it may not be clear for some time what caused it, officials said.

The final environmental impact statement for Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC project in Texas and associated pipeline is to be issued Oct. 8, with a deadline of Jan. 6, 2015 for a decision on whether to authorize the project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. Corpus Christi Liquefaction would construct and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export and import terminal on the north shore of Corpus Christi Bay in Nueces and San Patricio counties. The terminal would be capable of liquefying about 2.1 Bcf/d and vaporizing about 400 MMcf/d of LNG. The project would also include three 160,000 cubic-meter LNG storage tanks; two LNG berthing docks; about 23 miles of 48-inch diameter, bi-directional pipeline capable of transporting 2.25 Bcf/d of gas; and two compressor stations. In December Corpus Christi Liquefaction struck an agreement with PT Pertamina (Persero) under which Pertamina would purchase about 0.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the terminal (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6, 2013).

Physical gas prices for Thursday delivery tumbled once again in Wednesday’s trading as temperatures in some metropolitan locations were expected to approach seasonal norms while traders said the expected heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Pax actually was dampening demand. All locations reported multi-dollar losses and when averaged over the entire country, next-day gas prices tumbled more than $2.00.

In a calm before the storm moment, natural gas values for delivery Wednesday plunged in Tuesday’s trading but still retained lofty levels. A forecast winter storm over much of the East was expected to be brutal, and next-day power prices firmed ahead of the event.