natural gas

For the week ending Aug. 23 physical natural gas prices nationally rose on by 18 cents to average $3.49, according to NGI’s National Spot Gas Average. All regions were up by double digits, and only a few points gained less than a dime.

A biannual production report posted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) shows the state’s stable of unconventional gas wells produced a record 1.42 Tcf during the first six months of 2013.

Not all of the lobbying groups in Washington, DC, believe that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is destined to become more proactive on energy if former Colorado regulator Ron Binz is confirmed as chairman.

Commercial support may emerge for a plan to revive a mining ghost town in northern British Columbia (BC) as another entry in the lineup of projects for exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada’s Pacific coast. Meanwhile, the number seven is a symbol of fortune and intelligence in China, and that luck is being pressed by the Asian-owned Woodfibre LNG project, the seventh to emerge for Canada’s west coast.

The elephant named Marcellus that has been sitting on Northeast-Henry Hub basis isn’t about to move along, and what used to be a premium market will see trades discounted to the U.S. gas benchmark for a while, analysts at Credit Suisse said in a recent note.

Although President Obama and the participants in a town hall meeting Friday at Binghamton University in New York devoted most of their discourse to education, energy was mentioned once, with the president acknowledging the rise of natural gas but calling for further investment in alternative energies not derived from fossil fuels.

Would-be exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada’s west coast and from the Lower 48 face multiple challenges. Up north the main worry is pricing and securing contracts to support the project, while down south the main threat is of a regulatory/political nature, according to an analysis by the International Gas Union (IGU).

Warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected to be in place in the Northeast and across the south-central and western areas as well in September, while the Southeast and north-central areas will average cooler than normal, according to forecasters at Weather Services International (WSI).

Judging from the tenor and content of the comments that have been filed on the revised hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may have to go back to the drawing board on the draft rule for a third time.