Negligible

Hurricane Isaac caused considerable disruption to natural gas processing infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, although it had a negligible effect on natural gas prices because of ample onshore production and surplus storage, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday.

The number of “felt” manmade earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in oil and natural gas operations is negligible, the chair of a major report on seismicity activity told a Senate panel last week. However water disposal associated with fracking shale gas wells is linked to increased tremor activity, countered an official with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The number of “felt” manmade earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in oil and natural gas operations is negligible, the chair of a major report on seismicity activity told a Senate panel Tuesday. However the disposal of the water associated with fracking of shale gas wells is linked to increased quake activity, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have a negligible impact on domestic gas supply and prices in the future, according to a position paper released by a major interstate gas pipeline group last week. The authors urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue its existing framework for review of requests to export LNG, by noting that exports would contribute to ongoing development of domestic resources and price stability.

Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have a negligible impact on domestic gas supply and prices in the future, according to a position paper released by a major interstate gas pipeline group Wednesday. The authors urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue its existing framework for review of requests to export LNG, by noting that exports would contribute to ongoing development of domestic resources and price stability.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday said it plans to develop national pretreatment standards for wastewater from shale natural gas extraction operations with a proposed rule expected to be issued in 2014. The news was met by industry groups asking the government agency to leave regulation in the hands of the individual states.

As expected, the loss of quite a bit of cooling demand from earlier in the week with almost-negligible replacement by new heating load didn’t allow Wednesday’s overall minor gains to persist. Instead, cash prices fell almost the board Thursday. The June futures drop of 6.5 cents a day earlier was another bearish factor in Thursday’s market.

After starting its run as front-month contract with two days of negligible gains, May natural gas futures were pushed lower Wednesday, potentially in preparation for another bearish out-of-season natural gas storage build. The contract ended up dropping 8.1 cents from Tuesday’s close to finish Wednesday’s regular session at $3.695.