Overall

President Obama’s $3.77 trillion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014, unveiled Wednesday, for the fourth time seeks to repeal tax breaks for oil and natural gas producers. It also would tack on new fees for operations on federal lands and increase oil and gas royalties to fund renewable fuel development.

Natural gas cash prices overall averaged about a 6-cent gain on Wednesday for Thursday delivery as forecasts called for continued below normal temperatures throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes regions.

Natural gas cash prices overall surged 17 cents on average Monday led by mega-gains extending from the Rockies to Chicago. Without losses posted at a handful of Northeast points, the average gain becomes 21 cents.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) is holding a binding open season through May for capacity on the proposed 1,025-mile Freedom Pipeline LLC for transporting Permian Basin crude from Texas to refineries in both Southern and Northern California.

The cash market overall retreated 28 cents Wednesday, but if multi-dollar swan dives taken by Northeast and other thinly traded points are excluded, the drop comes to a more meaningful 11 cents. Nearly all points sustained sizeable losses. Midcontinent and California locations were down by double digits, but Gulf points also weakened. At the close of futures trading May had fallen 6.9 cents to $3.900 and June was off by 6.9 cents as well to $3.950. May crude oil plunged $2.74 to $94.45 on unsupportive inventory data and weak economic news.

Physical natural gas prices fell an average 3 cents overall in Monday’s trading, but that hid a much broader and deeper market decline. If multi-dollar advances on volatile Northeast pipelines are factored out, the market decline was just shy of 16 cents. Offsetting the Northeast strength were stout losses at California and Rocky Mountain points. After a weak open, May natural gas futures trimmed losses to nine-tenths of a cent to $4.015 and June eased five-tenths of a cent to $4.061. May crude oil fell 16 cents to $97.07/bbl.

More than half of the natural gas pipeline projects that entered service were in the Northeast during 2012, a year in which overall U.S. capacity investment slowed.

More than half of the natural gas pipeline projects that entered service were in the Northeast during 2012, a year in which overall U.S. capacity investment slowed.

The physical market overall was unchanged Thursday, but that was due in large part to multi-dollar losses at constrained northeast pipelines such as Algonquin, Iroquois and portions of Tennessee. Omitting those losses from the equation results in a 6-cent market gain.