Northern

Prices rebounded at nearly all points Monday, even with weather forecasts being mostly mild to chilly in northern market areas and merely warm — but not especially hot except from Texas through parts of the desert Southwest — in the southern U.S. The previous Thursday’s futures gain of 10.2 cents and returning industrial demand after a holiday weekend were chiefly responsible for the overall firmness.

Following a week in which weather across Canada and much of the northern U.S. seemed more appropriate for winter than the still-young spring season — keeping spot prices mostly flat or firmer — just a few areas of significant heating load remained Monday. The upshot was falling prices at most points.

Prices were higher in all of the cash market Wednesday, driven primarily by stubborn wintry weather across Canada and much of the northern U.S. — even though the seasons officially transitioned into spring last Sunday — and secondarily by the previous day’s advance of 9.3 cents by April futures. And as a producer had suggested Tuesday, storage buying for price arbitrage opportunities (and maybe by some traders who just wanted to get a jump on the traditional injection season) likely helped boost demand further.

Local elected officials have approved plans for the development of a 640-acre energy park on ranch land in northern Weld County, CO. The developer of the proposed Niobrara Energy Park told Weld County commissioners that he envisions a hybrid energy park, mixing old and new energy resources. The project would include 200 acres of solar panels, geothermal production, a natural gas-fired electric generating plant and possibly a super data center along the lines of ones developed in the Pacific Northwest for Facebook and Google. Located about 35 miles north of Greeley, CO, the park has been given a list of up to 50 possible uses, but the developer, Loveland, CO-based Harrison Resource Corp., said it was still unclear if it would be developed as one comprehensive plan or a number of separate projects on parts of the designated park land.

A U.S. subsidiary of Norway’s Statoil ASA has finalized an agreement to increase the availability of natural gas midstream services in the Marcellus Shale of northern West Virginia.

SemGas LP has signed an agreement with Eagle Energy Co. to gather and process natural gas from its dedicated acreage in Region 1 of the Anadarko Basin in northern Oklahoma, the Tulsa-based SemGroup Corp. The agreement includes the installation of a 30 MMcf/d cryogenic plant in Hopeton, OK facility to support Eagle’s drilling activities into the Mississippi and Hunton geological formations. SemGas will continue to support Eagle’s drilling activity from its Nash, OK facility with further expansion capabilities available as needed, the company said. Founded in 2009, Eagle focuses on acquiring and drilling properties in the Mid-Continent. Its primary activity focuses on horizontal drilling in the Mississippian formation, where it has a leasehold position exceeding 50,000 acres and production weighted 60% oil. Eagle also has more than 50,00 net acres (primarily gas) in the Hunton Lime and Woodford Shale resource plays.

Linn Energy has agreed to pay $196 million to Concho Resources to acquire oil properties in the Bakken play in North Dakota, the companies said Monday. The properties are expected to add current net production of about 1,350 Boe/d (94% of it oil), proved reserves of approximately 8 MMBoe (83% oil) and more than 400 potential oil drilling locations, according to Linn.

Northern Natural Gas did not extend a System Overrun Limitation in market-area Zone EF beyond Wednesday.

After ending Tuesday a five-day series of System Overrun Limitations (SOL) in all market-area zones, Northern Natural Gas will implement a new SOL Wednesday in only Zone EF.