natural gas prices

Recently released disclosures from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) show dozens of trains carry millions of gallons of mostly Bakken and Canadian crude oil through the state each week toward refineries on the East Coast. PEMA was ordered to release the documents by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records after it found the information included in them was not confidential or proprietary (see Shale Daily,Oct. 6). The state’s leading rail companies, Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and CSX Transportation Inc., run a combined total of up to 75 crude trains through Pennsylvania each week, which comes as no surprise given the visibility of the marked tanker cars running through cities such as Pittsburgh as they enter the western part of the state heading east. The reports show that the trains carry a minimum of one million gallons of crude oil each.

Physical natural gas for weekend and Monday delivery fell hard in Friday’s trading as increased supplies, mild temperatures and load-killing rain over the weekend in eastern markets were expected to give way to seasonal readings by Monday.

Low power loads, weak power pricing, and moderate seasonal shoulder season weather all were on duty to send weekly natural gas prices scurrying lower. TheNGI Weekly National Spot Gas Price Average tumbled 30 cents to $3.41, and of all market points followed by NGI, only 3 made it to the plus column.

Helge Lund, 51, who helmed Norway’s state-owned Statoil ASA for a decade, will take over BG Group plc in March. BG, UK’s third largest producer, was led by more than a 10 years by Frank Chapman until he retired in 2012 (see Daily GPI,Dec. 14, 2012). Chapman’s successor Chris Finlayson left in March. “Helge is ideally suited to lead BG Group in the next phase of its growth,” said BG Chairman Andrew Gould. “Helge’s track record speaks for itself. He has built a world-class exploration and production portfolio at Statoil.” BG is one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas traders, and is involved in export projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in British Columbia (see Daily GPI,April 4;March 26). BG also has U.S. onshore holdings, including in the gassy Haynesville Shale (see Daily GPI,June 17). Statoil marketing chief Eldar Saetre was appointed interim CEO following Lund’s departure.

Gas Natural Inc.subsidiary Energy West Inc. has agreed to sell Wyoming natural gas utility assets, Energy West Wyoming Inc., to Black Hills Corp. for $17 million. The parties said they plan a smooth transition for customers. The transaction is expected to close within a year. Energy West intends to use the proceeds to reinvest in the business. In 2Q2014, Gas Natural reported a $1.4 million loss (minus 14 cents/share), compared with a loss of $300,000 (minus 4 cents) in 2Q2013.

Natural gas futures rose modestly following the release of government storage figures that were somewhat less than what traders were expecting.

The production of natural gas liquids (NGL) in the Permian Basin will take off over the next several years as producers shift focus to liquids-rich shale plays and midstream companies follow their lead and build the necessary infrastructure to process and transport the liquids, according to an executive with Genscape Inc.

The demand for propane is expected to be, on average, 100,000 b/d lower in 2014 compared to 2013 due to reduced demand from petrochemical plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica), a Washington, DC-based trade group promoting all forms of natural gas-powered vehicles, named Matthew Godlewski president. He succeeds Rich Kolodziej, who had served as president of the organization since 1996. Early this year, Kolodziej said he would be retiring. Godlewski comes from the Washington, DC-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, where he was vice president for state affairs. Prior to that he worked in the wine and spirits industry as a state/federal policy director. He will start heading NGVAmerica in mid-October. Godlewski is a graduate of Michigan State University.