Rockies

A report to Congress issued Thursday by the Department of the Interior concludes that an estimated 57% of the oil and 63% of the gas resources in five major geologic basins in the Rocky Mountain region are accessible to drilling companies under standard leasing terms, and only 15% of the oil and 12% of the gas are totally unavailable. The remaining oil and gas resources are available with increasing restrictions on development.

Rockies points abandoned their contrarian softness tendency from the day before and joined the overall market in across-the-board price gains Tuesday in response to wintry weather engulfing most of the U.S. and Canada. Once again the icy Northeast led the upward charge with varied gains ranging from about a quarter (Texas Eastern M-3) to more than a dollar (Tennessee Zone 6). Otherwise, increases ran from a nickel to a little more than a quarter.

Northern Appalachian natural gas production lags considerably behind the ramp up in the Rocky Mountains, but West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise said that he is pushing for his state to one day compete head-to-head with Wyoming. Wise spoke Tuesday in Charleston, WV as keynote for the Conference on Natural Gas from Coal Seams in the Northern Appalachian Basin.

With Henry Hub natural gas prices “bouncing” around $2/Mcf, and prices in the Rockies even more lackluster, producers once again are re-evaluating drilling budgets, pulling back on near-term production activity, and “dusting off” plans to shut in production — plans that they haven’t looked at in years, says the Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA) in its October gas update.

Colorado Interstate Gas has announced an open season running through July 20 for a new pipeline to transport Rocky Mountain gas from the Cheyenne Hub to connections in the Midcontinent area near Greensburg, KS.

Jumping into the rush to expand the Rocky Mountain region’s natural gas infrastructure, Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) and BP America Inc. have signed a 12-year agreement to expand gathering and processing infrastructure and services to accommodate BP’s Greater Green River Basin drilling program in Wamsutter, WY.

Except in the Rockies and Southwest, prices kept rising Tuesdaybut not nearly as spectacularly as on the day before. Californiawas still registering triple-digit increases, but otherwise, mostpoints went up between a nickel and 15 cents. The Pacific Northwestand Northeast citygates saw most of the non-California gainsgreater than 20 cents.

Except for still-tumbling prices in the Northeast and in theRockies, which ironically were among the chillier regionsWednesday, most of the cash market pulled out of the tailspin thathad characterized Tuesday’s start of November swing trading. Otherareas tended to range from mildly lower to mildly higher.

Except for moderate firmness for intra-Alberta and Rockiespoints Monday, the cash market tended to stay on the downward slopethat had developed Friday. However, Monday’s declines were smallerthan those for the weekend, ranging mostly between a nickel and adime.