Quietly

With lowly Ernesto — now a tropical depression — sticking to a northern path and allowing the Gulf Coast to continue to quietly observe Hurricane Katrina’s one-year anniversary, October natural gas futures dug lower Wednesday, exploring price territory carved out Tuesday by the expiring September contract.

Natural gas futures continue to appear comfortable at their current price level as the April contract quietly went off the board Wednesday at $7.233, up 1.9 cents on the day. Likewise, May natural gas futures, which now take on prompt-month status, closed on Wednesday at $7.456, up 7.2 cents.

Other than steep declines at Northeast citygates, last week’s market ended quietly Friday with moderate dips in most cases, but with several points (mostly in the West and Midcontinent) registering as flat to as much as about 15 cents higher. Fairly moderate weather in many areas, heavy storage withdrawals and the weekend drop in industrial load were the dominant influences, but they were obviously offset at some points by localized heating demand and modest support from the previous day’s screen.

Royal Dutch Shell plc appears to sneaking into one of the largest new natural gas plays in the United States, after quietly signing a series of transactions in 2005 to explore about 70,000 acres of the Fayetteville Shale in north-central Arkansas. Shell is the first major to enter the region, following independents that include Southwestern Energy Co., which considers the play its bread and butter.

As national authorities in Canada prepare to start a year of hearings Jan. 25, the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) is quietly warming up the next stage of the northern regulatory process for action by starting work on local and aboriginal agencies. In a progress report to the National Energy Board, the C$7 billion (US$6 billion) Mackenzie project reported filing 10 detailed applications with native and Northwest Territories authorities.

California regulators and FERC have quietly resolved their nearly 20-month long dispute over who has “exclusive jurisdiction” over a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the Port of Long Beach, CA.

Taking somewhat of a break while still holding recent gains, July natural gas futures quietly traded within a slim 12-cent range Tuesday before settling at $7.127, up half of a penny from Monday’s close.

Looking at first as if they would gain back a significant portion of their Monday losses ahead of expiration, January natural gas futures instead went on a late selling binge on Tuesday to settle at $6.213, up 5.3 cents. February futures increased 11.6 cents to close at $6.341.

Canada’s northern gas project has quietly dropped its target of this summer for filing completed construction applications, saying the process has become too complicated to rush.