Shutting

After disrupting and shutting in Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production areas, Hurricane Katrina continues to make her impact felt in both physical destruction of property and technical hang-ups in energy markets. The delivery committee of the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (NYMEX) convened Monday morning to review deliveries in progress related to the NYMEX Division natural gas futures contract for August 2005.

While some Gulf of Mexico producers were evacuating rigs and shutting in oil and natural gas production in preparation for Tropical Storm Arlene, natural gas futures traders seemed unshaken Friday as July natural gas settled at $6.932, down 11.3 cents on the day, but 5.2 cents up for the week.

Southern Natural said it was notified that the Enterprise Processing Plant is being shut down. Southern also is shutting down its Toca Compressor Station and has declared a force majeure. Pressures declined to the point that Southern essentially has no gas flow through the Toca facility. Southern is requesting that all shippers/poolers verify that their supply is flowing and nominate their demand to match their anticipated supply. Southern is not accepting any nominations for interruptible services that rely on storage (ISS and Park withdrawals) and will not be accepting any makeup due shipper.

As the battle rages on over shutting in natural gas wells for the purpose of preserving crude bitumen recovery from the Wabiskaw-McMurray formation located in northern Alberta, province regulators revised downward the number of gas wells they believe should be closed.

As the battle rages on over shutting in natural gas wells for the purpose of preserving crude bitumen recovery from the Wabiskaw-McMurray formation located in northern Alberta, province regulators revised downward the number of gas wells they believe should be closed.

After shutting in 2% of natural gas production and reserves to conserve underground pressure in its oilsands, Canada’s chief producing province has embarked on a test case as to whether it can keep open a far larger, mainstay source of natural gas.

After shutting in 2% of natural gas production and reserves to conserve underground pressure in its oilsands, Canada’s chief producing province has embarked on a test case as to whether it can keep open a far larger, mainstay source of natural gas.

If government predictions are correct, Gulf of Mexico producerscould be shutting in more rigs and shuttling more workers to safetythis hurricane season than last.

If government predictions are correct, Gulf of Mexico producerscould be shutting in more rigs and shuttling more workers to safetythis hurricane season than last.