Onto

Much is said, and often, about how escalating decline rates have cast U.S. gas producers onto an ever-accelerating treadmill. In the latest “Stat of the Week” from Raymond James & Associates Inc., a trio of analysts points at decline rates with alarm and, of course, bullishness. “The treadmill is running too fast,” the analysts say, while conceding that this view is a contrarian one in some quarters.

November natural gas futures kept within a fairly small 31-cent range Friday as they seemed to hold onto some of the downward momentum from Thursday’s 80.8-cent drop. Ultimately, the prompt month settled at $13.226, down 14.9 cents from Thursday and 69.5 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

After skyrocketing in morning trade on petroleum futures sympathy to reach a high of $7.43, July natural gas futures were not able to hold onto the gains as the afternoon continued Wednesday.

Due to unexpected operational difficulties, Dominion said early Friday it was unable to move shut-in gas onto the Equitrans system at the Copley and West Union meters that day as previously planned (see Daily GPI, Nov. 7). It is imperative that producers on the “wet” gathering system behind Dominion’s Hastings Extraction Plant in West Virginia, where an explosion and fire occurred Oct. 31, remain shut in until the gas is able to be transferred to Equitrans, Dominion said. Affected customers were urged to check the bulletin board regularly for further updates.

With drilling rigs ready to roll onto the Mackenzie Delta as soon as the tundra freezes for the winter and producers courting consent for more activity, Canadians are starting to believe their entry is pulling ahead in the Arctic gas sweepstakes.

With drilling rigs ready to roll onto the Mackenzie Delta as soon as the tundra freezes for the winter and producers courting consent for more activity, Canadians are starting to believe their entry is pulling ahead in the Arctic gas sweepstakes.

In the short term, more players will move onto the online trading field, grabbing up customers as independents, through consortiums with other companies, or proprietarily, like Enron has done. However, though there will be a some winners in every arena in the short term, eventually, more will end up in the losing category as traders move toward the most efficient and best access sites.

In the short term, more players will move onto the onlinetrading field, grabbing up customers as independents, throughconsortiums with other companies, or proprietarily, like Enron hasdone. However, though there will be a some winners in every arenain the short term, eventually, more will end up in the losingcategory as traders move toward the most efficient and best accesssites.

Nicor Inc. has signed on as an equal partner in the plannedHorizon Pipeline with Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Natural Gas PipelineCompany of America (NGPL), the companies said last week. Thepartners also submitted Horizon’s application to FERC.