natural gas prices

The Los Angeles City Council early this year called for a draft moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but the city planning department is proposing another way to regulate drilling practices — land-use and zoning regulations.

Physical gas prices for Wednesday delivery held firm overall in Tuesday’s trading. Gains in the Midwest, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and Marcellus were able to counter weakness in the Gulf, West Texas and the San Juan Basin and California. Nationally spot prices gained a penny to average $4.14.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s $5.15 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice concerning legacy Tronox Inc. operations received final approval from the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of New York (see Daily GPI,April 3). The settlement, the largest environmental recovery ever by Justice, resolves all claims regarding alleged actions by Kerr-McGee Corp. before it merged with Anadarko in 2007 (see Daily GPI,Jan. 30, 2007). Before the merger, Kerr-McGee spun off Tronox, which at the time was burdened with environmental liabilities related to pollution site cleanups (see Daily GPI,April 3, 2006).

December natural gas is set to open 10 cents lower Tuesday morning at $4.15 as traders concede the end of the current price advance for the moment, yet ponder continuing cold. Overnight oil markets were narrowly lower.

Gastar Exploration Inc. expects to cut its capital budget and scale back the number of wells it plans to drill next year, electing to take a more cautious approach as its Appalachian natural gas production continues to be impacted by declining basis differentials and crude oil prices remain weak.

The Obama administration is weighing whether to list as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) the Gunnison sage grouse, which could pose problems for oil and natural gas development in parts of Utah and Colorado. The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is set to make the decision Wednesday.

EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) said Monday that it will begin marketing both its operated and non-operated joint venture (JV) acreage in Ohio’s Utica Shale next year, where the company believes its efforts with Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Total E&P USA have made clear the asset’s value for a successful sale.

Where U.S. natural gas and oil exports are allowable they are surging, and as plans progress to carry liquefied natural gas (LNG) and more crude oil overseas, dramatic swings in the U.S. trade balance swiftly will transform America into an energy superpower, according to an in-depth analysis by Citi.

Production of natural gas and oil from the seven most prolific U.S. shale and tight oil regions will continue to increase through the end of the year, reaching 44.12 Bcf/d and 5.26 b/d in December, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).