natural gas

Williams’ (WMB) plan to buy the half of Access Midstream Partners LP (ACMP) it doesn’t already own and merge it with master limited partnership (MLP) Williams Partners LP (WPZ) is a strategy targeting the robust midstream buildout in the shales, particularly the Marcellus and Utica.

A plan to test groundwater at Pavillion, WY, where residents have complained about possible contamination related to natural gas well drilling, has the support of Encana Corp., which has a leasehold there.

Looking to beef up its East Texas acreage position in order to roll out a multi-rig drilling program, Energy & Exploration Partners Inc. (ENXP) reported Monday that it is acquiring 18,300 net acres in Houston and Madison counties from TreadStone Energy Partners LLC for approximately $715 million.

Physical gas for Tuesday delivery rose hard and often in Monday’s trading, with forecasts of pervasive heat and humidity along the Eastern Seaboard lifting quotes at some points more than a dollar, and only a handful of locations slipped into the loss column. The Northeast led the pack with the day’s biggest gains, but the Mid-Atlantic was a close second. Appalachian prices were firm as were quotes out of the Rockies. At the close of futures trading, July had retreated 3.2 cents to $4.707 after trading overnight as high as $4.886. August slipped 3.0 cents to $4.718 and July crude oil dropped a penny to $106.90/bbl.

FERC staff said on Friday in the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal and associated pipeline that the project would not cause significant environmental harm as long as mitigation measures were taken.

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.

The Western Governors’ Association (WGA) elected Nevada Gov.Brian Sandoval as its next chairman and Oregon Gov.John Kitzhaber as vice chair. Sandoval replaces Colorado Gov.John Hickenlooper.

Spot gas for weekend and Monday delivery staged a broad rally Friday as the physical market played somewhat of a catch-up to the screen’s Herculean 25-cent leap on Thursday.

The physical market survived a wild and wooly week of trading with modest, single digit losses for the most part. Friday’s hefty advances induced by a Thursday screen surge were not enough to offset pervasive mid-week selling, and the NGI National Weekly Spot Gas Average was down 4 cents to $4.42. Regionally, all locations were lower by anywhere from just a few pennies to less than a dime. Of the individual market points, Algonquin Citygates jumped to the top of the leader board with a maintenance-induced gain of 45 cents to $4.51 and buyers at the Millenium East Pool got the week’s biggest break with a slide of 17 cents to $2.89.