NYMEX

The price being paid Monday for Tuesday physical natural gas delivery on average lost 2 cents as major hubs were mixed, but firm pricing on the West Coast and Eastern Seaboard was not able to offset weakness at Gulf and interior locations. At the close of futures trading, December had fallen 6.8 cents to $3.445 and January skidded 6.7 cents tp $3.524. December crude oil added a penny to $94.62/bbl.

For the three trading days ended Oct. 30 physical gas prices fell an average of 12 cents to $3.62, according to NGI’s National Spot Gas Average.

Lone Star NGL LLC has started up the second natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at its Mont Belvieu, TX, facility. Lone Star Frac II is a 100,000 b/d fractionator that brings Lone Star’s total fractionation capacity at Mont Belvieu to 200,000 b/d. Lone Star is a joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) and Regency Energy Partners LP. The fractionators receive NGLs from several sources, including Lone Star’s west Texas NGL pipelines and ETP’s Justice NGL pipeline. Volumes transported on Lone Star’s pipeline system and the ETP Justice pipeline continue to ramp up as shippers under long-term agreements with Lone Star and ETP increase their production from the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, and other producing regions, the companies said.

December natural gas is expected to open 3 cents lower Friday morning at $3.55 as traders are unable to identify any fundamental weather patterns able to offset ever-increasing production. Overnight oil markets slipped.

In a private notice sent to CME Group clearing members on Friday, the trading exchange said it made a revision on Oct. 30 to the November 2013 natural gas futures contract expiration that occurred on Oct. 29.

Total U.S. natural gas production was nearly flat in August compared to the previous month, but in the Other States category, which includes shale-heavy Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, output reached 27.02 Bcf/d, a 2.4% increase from 26.38 Bcf/d in July and a whopping 17.1% increase from 23.08 Bcf/d in August 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report.

A former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said he is concerned about the federal government’s delay in issuing regulations to implement the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Jobs Creation Act, which President Obama signed into law in January 2012 (see Daily GPI,Jan. 4, 2012).

In an effort to stay current with the continuously changing North American natural gas market, NGI is proposing to make several changes to the spot market price tables that appear in NGI’s Bidweek Gas Price Survey, NGI’s Weekly Gas Price Index, and NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index newsletters. These changes would be effective as of the first December 2013 editions of our various Gas Price Index newsletters, and are as follows:

Physical gas for weekend and Monday delivery skidded a hefty 11 cents on average in Friday trading. Demand-driven gains at New England points and firm eastern quotes were unable to counter pervasive selling, which saw many locations endure double-digit losses. At the close of futures trading December had retreated 6.8 cents to $3.513 and January was down 7.2 cents to $3.591. December crude oil tumbled $1.77 to $94.61/bbl.