Proving

The official start of fall is still a couple of weeks away, but try proving that to a soft gas market. Prices dropped at nearly all points Tuesday as mild forecasts dominated the weather outlook and a 17.8-cent dive by futures on the previous Friday contributed further bearish pressure.

Despite a mini-heat wave in the Midwest proving to be short-lived, the cash market found enough support from the previous day’s futures spike and remaining high temperatures in much of the East to realize further gains at nearly all points Friday.

While the state picked up three Canadian provinces, California’s effort to start a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is proving to be a lonely, uphill battle. Legal and political challenges continue as an increasing head wind builds against the state’s efforts.

Further proving that the array of proposed solutions for handling natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Marcellus Shale is still fluid, recently there was word of another idea, which may or may not become a project.

Further proving that the array of proposed solutions for handling natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Marcellus Shale is still fluid, recently there was word of another idea, which may or may not become a project.

Proving that where there’s natural gas there’s pipe (and economic development), steel tubular manufacturer TMK IPSCO said Tuesday it’s setting up a manufacturing facility to produce threaded pipe for Marcellus Shale infrastructure. The facility will be near Youngstown, OH, which has seen its fortunes decline with the weakening of America’s steel industry.

Proving that where there’s natural gas there’s pipe (and economic development), steel tubular manufacturer TMK IPSCO said Tuesday it’s setting up a manufacturing facility to produce threaded pipe for Marcellus Shale infrastructure. The facility will be near Youngstown, OH, which has seen its fortunes decline with the weakening of America’s steel industry.

Proving the natural gas market’s current level of indecision, July natural gas futures traded a tight range on Tuesday before closing unchanged from Monday’s finish. The contract put in its $3.656 to $3.768 range in the first hour of the regular session, then wandered aimlessly before finishing at $3.731.

Proving that Thursday’s explosion to the upside was less of an aberration than many had expected, the rally in natural gas futures showed some staying power Friday as the April contract closed at $4.227, up 5.3 cents from Thursday and 29.5 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.