natural gas prices

The Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) has named Todd Staples as its new president. Currently serving as Texas commissioner of agriculture, Staples will replace Rob Looney who is retiring at the end of 2014 after 26 years with the association. Staples was selected following a national search. “Innovations and investments by TXOGA’s 5,500 members are transforming the Lone Star State, creating jobs and providing opportunities for all Texans,” Staples said. “It will be my honor and privilege to work with this dynamic industry at a time when Texas energy production is anchoring our state’s economy and bolstering our nation’s energy security. The world is watching as Texas cements its place as a global leader in the energy arena.” Staples previously served as a Texas state senator, a state representative and as mayor pro tem of his local city council in Palestine, TX. He graduated with honors fromTexas A&M Universitywith a degree in agricultural economics.

Power generator PSEG Power LLC, a unit of Public Service Enterprise Group, has taken an equity stake in PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC’s proposed $1 billion, 100-mile pipeline from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, PennEast said Thursday. The pipeline would run from Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania to Transco’s Trenton-Woodbury interconnection in New Jersey (see Shale Daily,Sept. 5;Aug. 12). The pipeline, which is projected to enter service in 2017, would transport up to 1 Bcf/d and is targeting Marcellus Shale gas supplies. Additional pipeline partners include AGL Resources; NJR Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources; South Jersey Industries; and UGI Energy Services (UGIES), a subsidiary of UGI Corp. PSEG Power, which would be a shipper on the pipeline, will have a 12% interest in PennEast. The other PennEast Pipeline Co. members each will have 22% interest. Preliminary engineering studies have begun, and a formal application is to be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission next year. UGIES is the project manager and would operate the pipeline.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) and BP Singapore Pte. (BPS), which is an affiliate of BP Group, have struck a liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreement for Tepco to buy up to 1.2 million tons of LNG per year over 17 years from BPS starting in April 2017. The LNG is to come from “multiple sources” held by BP Group, making the deal a “portfolio contract,” the first long-term agreement of its kind for Tepco, the Japanese utility company said. The agreement includes supply of lean LNG and also indexes prices to the Henry Hub. Tepco and other Asian LNG consumers have sought LNG supplies through contracts indexed to more favorable North American prices. Tepco said it has reviewed multiple supply sources, including those of U.S. origin, in its effort to buy about 10 million tons of lean LNG annually. With the BPS agreement, a total of 2 million tons of lean LNG per year will have been secured, Tepco said.

The city council of Denton, TX, which overlies the Barnett Shale, has extended a moratorium (see Shale Daily,May 12) on new drilling permits within the city until Jan. 21, while a referendum to ban hydraulic fracturing within the city is on its way to voters Nov. 4. If voters approve the ban, Denton would be the first city in the Lone Star State to ban fracking (see Shale Daily,July 16).

With weather forecasts looking mild over the weekend, buyers on Friday stepped back and found little incentive to spring for a three-day deal when incremental volumes can be purchased easily with today’s plethora of personal communications devices.

Most physical natural gas points nationally made it into positive territory for the week ended Sept. 12, but a few losing points, most of those in the Northeast, spoiled the party and the NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average came in unchanged at $3.70.

Natural gas futures tumbled following the release of government storage figures that were greater than what the market was expecting.

The Independent System Operator of New England (ISO New England), grid operator for that increasingly gas-dependent region, must “initiate a stakeholder process to develop a proposal to address reliability concerns for the 2015-2016 winter and future winters,” FERC said.

In the Sept. 10 article Eastern Gains Overpowered by Wider Weakness; October Eases Ahead Of EIA Stats (see Daily GPI,Sept. 10),NGI incorrectly attributed a Genscape quote to another company. The quote should have read: “Under normal temperatures, demand in Illinois is expected to follow the five year upward trend by growing to 4.5 Bcf/d this winter,” analysts at Genscape said in their Basis Commentary note. “Over the past five winters, average population-weighted temperatures in Illinois have been 32.2 degrees. Within a 5 degree spread centered at 32.2 degrees, winter demand was 3.80 Bcf/d in 2009-2010. Demand bumped up to 3.95 Bcf/d in the 2010-2011 winter season. In 2011-2012, winter demand dipped to 3.81 Bcf/d, the only time in the past five years that temperature-adjusted winter demand has not increased, year/year. The following winter saw a 0.20 Bcf/d increase in demand, breaking the 4 Bcf/d mark, [and] last year, [polar vortex-driven] winter demand in Illinois jolted to 4.35 Bcf/d.