Piece

The natural gas futures market received a piece of supportive news Friday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 191 Bcf had been withdrawn from storage for the week ending Feb. 5. The report was viewed as slightly bullish as most industry estimates were for a draw of approximately 180 Bcf. March natural gas futures closed Friday at $5.468, up 7.2 cents from Thursday but 4.7 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

The natural gas futures market received a piece of supportive news Friday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 191 Bcf had been withdrawn from storage for the week ending Feb. 5. The report was viewed as slightly bullish as most industry estimates were for a draw of approximately 180 Bcf. March natural gas futures closed Friday at $5.468, up 7.2 cents from Thursday but 4.7 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

For those looking for even a small piece of good news in the midst of economic decline, the small profit posted by Chevron Corp. in the final period of 2008 was some relief. Like ExxonMobil Corp. (see related story), Chevron’s natural gas and oil volumes fell because of the continuing impact of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Another piece of the massive Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) fell into place Monday. FERC gave REX the go-ahead to begin service at the Meeker Compressor Station in Rio Blanco County, CO.

Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of one of the shale plays that are spread across North America — majors, independents, privately owned producers, master limited partnerships (MLP) and even some of the neighborhoods that sit on top of them.

Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of one of the shale plays that are spread across North America — majors, independents, privately owned producers, master limited partnerships (MLP) and even some of the neighborhoods that sit on top of them.

Williams unit Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. (Transco) last week revealed another potential piece of pipeline infrastructure that could ultimately help transport bountiful Rockies gas supplies to gas-needy northeastern markets.

While it has been reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) wants to get a piece of Sempra Energy’s successful energy trading business, RBS might want to consider what the San Diego-based holding company has said previously: partnership is a possibility, but a sale is not.

Breaking off another piece of its prized exploration and production (E&P) business, Dominion agreed last week to sell its Canadian properties to a combo of Calgary-based energy trusts, Paramount Energy Trust and Baytex Energy Trust, for US$583 million.