Picked

Even more natural gas will be flowing to the southeastern United States after Williams Partners LP picked up its second federal approval in a month to beef up infrastructure on its Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), a 10,500-mile system that delivers gas from the Gulf of Mexico to New York City, the Mid-Atlantic and the Atlanta area.

Even more natural gas will be flowing to the southeastern United States after Williams Partners LP picked up its second federal approval in a month to beef up infrastructure on its Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), a 10,500-mile system that delivers gas from the Gulf of Mexico to New York City, the Mid-Atlantic and the Atlanta area.

President Obama Tuesday said he picked Michael R. Bromwich, a partner in the law firm of Fried Frank’s in Washington, DC, and New York, to head up reform of the troubled Minerals Management Services (MMS).

There was no general consensus on natural gas prices on Monday as cash averages across the country picked up a few pennies or declined by a few pennies. The indecisiveness also carried over in the futures arena where the June contract declined for the fifth consecutive day, but only by 1.8 cents to $4.017.

October natural gas futures on Friday picked up where the expiring September contract left off on Thursday as the new prompt-month contract spiraled lower to close the week’s final regular session at $3.033, down 17.3 cents from Thursday’s finish.

The North American rig count has picked up in recent weeks, but the gains have been nearly all to the oil side, and natural gas isn’t likely to see any sustainable improvement before storage injection season is complete, according to energy analysts.

The North American rig count has picked up in recent weeks, but the gains have been nearly all to the oil side, and natural gas isn’t likely to see any sustainable improvement before storage injection season is complete, according to energy analysts.

President-elect Barack Obama has picked Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, to be secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) in his administration, and has selected experienced regulators to oversee three other offices dealing with energy, environmental and climate-change issues, Washington sources said. No formal announcement had been issued Thursday morning.

In its first regular session as the front-month contract, May natural gas futures picked up where April left off — namely in search of higher price levels. The prompt-month contract reached a high of $9.830 before finishing the day at $9.800, up 11.3 cents from Thursday’s close and 66 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.