natural gas prices

NGVAmerica (NGVA), the Washington, DC-based trade association for the natural gas vehicle (NGV) sector, on Tuesday launched a new Internet-based map of the nation’s NGV fueling stations (www.ngvamerica.org/stations). The data will be updated monthly.

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).

For the first time since entering the play, Hess Corp. has issued production guidance for its Utica Shale assets in Ohio, estimating that its wells there will be producing 40,000 boe/d by 2020.

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.

While it is experiencing financial fallout in its gas storage operations, Portland, OR-based NW Natural continues to push forward with its long-standing plans to expand its Mist Storage project in Oregon to service a new gas-fired generation plant in the area.

September set another record for upstream oil and gas activity in the Lone Star State, but weakened oil prices indicate that a slowdown could be coming — how significant remains to be seen, said a Texas economist specializing in energy patch data.