Starting

Official trade data is starting to confirm unofficial suspicions among Canadians that American imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are becoming a competitive force on the North American market.

With most traders starting their Independence Day holiday early, August natural gas futures trading on Tuesday was mostly muted. The prompt month traded within a slim 11.5-cent range before settling at $6.754, down a penny on the day. Whether this week’s slowdown of the recent price drop is due to anything other than pre-holiday trading remains to be seen.

Energy efficiency is no longer the “polite” thing to do but rather is “starting to become a cultural imperative” the COO of Pace Global Energy Services said last week.

With the worst of the current cold spell receding to past tense in northern market areas and the South starting to return to more seasonal temperatures for the first half of April, most of Tuesday’s market was mixed and in the vicinity of flat in many cases. Moderate gains appeared to slightly outweigh small losses.

Energy efficiency is no longer the “polite” thing to do but rather is “starting to become a cultural imperative,” the COO of Pace Global Energy Services said Tuesday.

Starting off the week with more of a whimper than a bang, natural gas futures traders pushed the April contract within a slim 10-cent range between $7.200 and $7.3000 before the contract closed out the regular trading session at $7.254, down 1.5 cents from Friday’s close. May natural gas dropped 2.3 cents to finish at $7.383.

Starting the week with more of a whimper than a bang, April natural gas futures on Monday traded within an anemic 6-cent range between $6.820 and $6.880 before settling at $6.847, down 7.7 cents for the day. While activity in natural gas ring was muted, the front spread in crude futures continued to widen to eye-opening levels.

Forecast costs of Canada’s arctic natural gas pipeline project have jumped 116% and the beleaguered scheme’s sponsors have pushed the target date for starting deliveries back at least three years.

Forecast costs of Canada’s arctic natural gas pipeline project have jumped 116% and the beleaguered scheme’s sponsors have pushed the target date for starting deliveries back at least three years.