natural gas prices

It wouldn’t be a stretch for the United States to ramp up production to serve a 10 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market by 2020, but whether the prospective exports would cause higher domestic natural gas prices could hinge on whether those exports are tied to Henry Hub gas or to or higher Brent crude equivalents, according to Patrick Rau, Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) director of strategy and research.

Natural gas for delivery Wednesday posted steady gains at most locations in Tuesday’s trading. Locations impacted by high temperatures, such as the East Coast, saw the greatest gains, with some points advancing more than $1.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) has expanded its contract with General Dynamics NASSCO for the design and construction of an additional 50,000 deadweight ton liquefied natural gas fueled-conversion-ready petroleum products tanker with a 330,000 bbl cargo capacity. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015 with delivery slated for the second quarter of 2017. The tanker will be constructed as a sister tanker to the four Jones Act tankers KMP currently has under construction at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. Construction of the new tanker is supported by a long-term charter with a major shipper and is evidence of its commitment to transporting domestic crude oil, condensate and refined products for the domestic market, KMP said.

North America was the only region in the world with above-average growth in natural gas consumption last year, and the United States remained the world’s leading gas producer, albeit at a slower pace, BP plc reported Monday in its highly anticipated annual energy economic review.

FERC staff issued the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the Phase II Modification Project and the Liquefaction Project proposed by Freeport LNG and found the projects’ impacts would not be significant provided the developer incorporate planned and suggested mitigation measures, Commission staff said.

Revised draft hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rules including a call for reporting any related quake activity of magnitude 2.0 or greater were released Friday by the California Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). New definitions and expanded requirements are included in the 29-page draft.

U.S. net oil imports last year fell to 6.5 million b/d, 47% below the 2005 peak, while net imports of natural gas dropped 13%, as exploration in the Lower 48 states delivered an energy bounty that eclipsed every other region in the world, BP plc economists said Monday.

The six-year old FERC case over allegations that BP America Inc. manipulated Houston Ship Channel (HSC) prices continued Monday in a hearing before an administrative law judge on whether to limit the Office of Enforcement’s (OE) request for five years of price data from the IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and McGraw-Hill’s Platts gas publications.

A natural gas marketing expert said it’s unclear if producers in the Utica Shale will face problems in the future for not buying liquids pipeline capacity. Meanwhile, competing proposals to solve the riddle of gas use for power generation in New England are moving forward, the odds are against another brutal winter next season, and a proposal by FERC to improve coordination between interstate pipelines and gas-fueled power plants will encounter some obstacles.