Regions

Prices continued to fall in most cases Friday based on limited weather-based demand in some regions, a growing lack of storage injection capacity and the drop of industrial load that accompanies a weekend market. Some points kept mixed price movement in play with gains that were largely derived from either cold weather or an end of storage and/or transportation constraints.

St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. said it intends to sell a package of noncore oil and gas properties, located primarily in the Rockies and Midcontinent regions. A preliminary estimate indicates that the package represents approximately 74 Bcfe of proved oil and gas reserves, the company said. The sales price of the properties will be determined by a competitive bidding process. Denver-based St. Mary Land & Exploration will complete the divestiture in late December if it receives what it believes is an appropriate offer. The company also announced that it repurchased a total of about 791,000 shares of outstanding common stock in the open market at a weighted average cost of $32.82 a share.

With the heat wave still in effect in a number of U.S. regions and conditions in the tropics becoming more friendly for hurricane development, natural gas futures traders on Friday extended Thursday’s rally. The September contract recorded a high of $6.950 before closing out the day at $6.820, up 23.4 cents from Thursday’s close and 73 cents higher than the previous Friday’s finish.

A Washington Post editorial last Tuesday called on U.S. lawmakers to loosen some of the restrictions on oil and natural gas exploration and drilling in offshore regions that have been off limits to producers for years.

A Washington Post editorial Tuesday called on U.S. lawmakers to loosen some of the restrictions on oil and natural gas exploration and drilling in offshore regions that have been off limits to producers for years.

The drilling boom in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions probably will end up stifling liquefied natural gas (LNG) import growth but won’t come close to filling up the plethora of proposed gas pipelines, according to a new study by New York City-based consulting firm PIRA Energy Group and El Paso-based Lippman Consulting Inc. (LCI).

The drilling boom in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions probably will end up stifling liquefied natural gas (LNG) import growth but won’t come close to filling up the plethora of proposed gas pipelines, according to a new study by New York City-based consulting firm PIRA Energy Group and El Paso-based Lippman Consulting Inc. (LCI).

Keeping downward pressure on natural gas futures prices despite the burst of cold into eastern regions, traders on Friday pushed November natural gas lower for a third consecutive session, dropping the contract 80.7 cents, or 12.5%, over the last three days of the week. The prompt month closed 12.3 cents lower Friday to close out the week at $5.659, which is 76.8 cents lower than the previous week’s close.

There were exceptions to the rule in both regions Monday, but for the most part prices increased in the West and softened in the East. The western market was seeing a resurgence of cooling load in the desert Southwest (Phoenix is expected to be just under 100 degrees Tuesday), while its eastern counterpart continued to labor under the same negative influences that had caused major declines in the previous week.