Prompting

Canadian natural gas exports defied consensus forecasts by increasing in the last international trading year (see NGI, Dec. 17, 2007), prompting the nation’s top pipeline to suggest that the true trend is a change in the quality of production instead of its quantity.

Canadian natural gas exports defied consensus forecasts by increasing in the last international trading year (see Daily GPI, Dec. 17, 2007), prompting the nation’s top pipeline to suggest that the true trend is a change in the quality of production instead of its quantity.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 37 Bcf gas storage injection Thursday morning, prompting the near-month gas futures contract to nose dive to its daily low of $6.45 from $6.60 in the minute following the 10:30 a.m. storage report. The injection was on the high end of expectations, many of which centered around 30 Bcf. But the September contract managed to rebound throughout the afternoon, ending the day down only 7.7 cents to $6.689.

Rising temperatures in many areas and relatively attractive gas prices continued to boost gas demand for power generation Tuesday, prompting additional gains of 10-40 cents in the cash market. An early run-up in futures also helped continue the cash rally but the near-month futures contract ended up losing nearly all of what it had gained by the end of trading Tuesday afternoon.

Canadian natural gas finding and development costs have tripled in the past 10 years, prompting an industry alert to guard against “hyperinflation.” The trend stood out as a surprise result of the latest in a periodic series of industry performance surveys commissioned by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

What remains of national independent power plant operator Calpine Corp.’s sinking ship was battered on both coasts Monday, prompting a California-based business columnist familiar with the once-high-flying Silicon Valley-based company to write its business epitaph. Calpine had no immediate reaction to the latest turn of events in the company’s continuing financial struggles; a spokesperson reiterated that no bankruptcy filing had been made yet by the company.

Regulatory hearings on Canada’s entry in the arctic pipeline race have been postponed until 2006, prompting the Northwest Territories government to warn that the C$7-billion (US$5.6-billion) Mackenzie Gas Project could be shelved. The lag gives Alaska a chance to take over the North American lead in northern supply development, territorial energy minister Brendan Bell said.

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, prompting many oil and natural gas companies, including El Paso Corp., to come up with new ways of doing business in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Iroquois said Tuesday it is continuing to experience mechanical problems at the Dover and Boonville compressor stations and lower pipeline pressures, prompting it to ask all point operators to be at or below their scheduled volumes through Tuesday’s gas day. Iroquois said it trying to rectify the situation as soon as possible to avoid curtailments of gas moving through the Athens compressor station.