Neutral

Recent investigations by FERC of interstate natural gas pipelines for significant over-earnings so far have been credit-neutral and the over-earnings are not likely to occur in the foreseeable future due to weaker market conditions, said Moody’s Investors Service in a new report.

Recent FERC investigations of interstate natural gas pipelines for significant over-earnings have so far been credit-neutral and the over-earnings are not likely to occur in the foreseeable future due to weaker market conditions, said Moody’s Investors Service in a new report.

Nexen Inc. has made good on a promise to find a joint venture (JV) partner by the end of this year for its extensive shale acreage in northeastern British Columbia (BC) after agreeing to sell a 40% stake for C$700 million to a consortium led by Japan’s Inpex Corp.

Santa Barbara, CA-based Hypersolar Inc. has filed a patent application for the production of a carbon-neutral methane gas made using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide (CO2) that the company said “can be used as a direct replacement for traditional natural gas.” HyperSolar is developing a solar-powered nanoparticle system that mimics photosynthesis to separate hydrogen from water; the hydrogen can then be reacted with CO2 to produce methane “without drilling or [hydraulic fracturing],” the company said.

Range Resources Corp. and a shale-rich township in southwestern Pennsylvania will enter mediation to resolve their difficulties.

With no guidance coming from Tuesday’s neutral screen action, cash market traders were left to their own devices on Wednesday. Some Midwest averages and almost all western averages continued Tuesday’s run higher with additions of a few pennies to a little more than 15 cents, while the rest of the country saw small pullbacks of up to a nickel.

Natural gas cash market prices across the country on Monday were mostly neutral to slightly down as traders kept a watchful eye on a strengthening tropical wave off the West African coast that could become the first real threat to the United States of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.

Since the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) is a passively managed commodity index fund with a “neutral” investment strategy, the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) should free it and other exchange-traded commodity index funds from position limits and grant them “no-action” status with respect to their activities, the fund manager said in a CFTC filing recently.

Since the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) is a passively managed commodity index fund with a “neutral” investment strategy, the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) should free it and other exchange-traded commodity index funds from position limits and grant them “no-action” status with respect to their activities, the fund manager said in a CFTC filing last week.