Stood

While the number of natural gas wells completions fell significantly last year compared with 2008, natural gas remained the primary target for domestic drilling in 2009, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) latest estimates.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) late Monday said it had reached a settlement with parties that stood in the way of the acquisition of the Bellevue, WA-based utility by a group of private investors. The state of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) must review the settlement. and other factors before deciding on the merger.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) last Monday said it had reached a settlement with parties that stood in the way of the acquisition of the Bellevue, WA-based utility by a group of private investors. The state of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) must review the settlement. and other factors before deciding on the merger.

Not since 1976 — when Peter Frampton was on the radio and Jimmy Carter was heading to the White House — have U.S. proved reserves of natural gas stood as high as they did last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Not since 1976 — when Peter Frampton was on the radio and Jimmy Carter was heading to the White House — have U.S. proved reserves of natural gas stood as high as they did last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

November natural gas futures traders stood aside Friday as all eyes continued to focus on the meteoric rise in crude futures. While prompt-month natural gas closed at $7.218, up 3 pennies from Thursday and 17.7 cents higher than the previous week, December crude reached a high of $92/bbl before closing out at a record high $91.86/bbl, up $1.40 from Thursday.

Noting that total working gas storage capacity on its system is 60.0 Bcf, Southern Natural Gas said its inventory stood at 42.0 Bcf as of May 4, or 70% of capacity. That compares with 25.5 Bcf (43%) and 24.4 Bcf (41%) at the comparable stages of the 2005 and 2004 injection seasons respectively, Southern said. Storage is now 16.5 Bcf ahead of the year-ago level, and at historical injection rates, Southern projects that maximum storage capacity could be reached before mid-summer. “If this trend continues, please note that it might be necessary to implement the following restrictions on…[certain] types of transactions to preserve firm obligations and interruptible quantities that have already been accepted,” the pipeline said in a posting Wednesday. See the bulletin board for details on potential transaction restrictions.

Triple-digit spikes at Northeast citygates stood out amid otherwise mixed pricing Friday that nevertheless had a major bias toward the upside. The extra Northeast strength was hardly surprising, since that region was destined to bear the brunt of a weekend return to widespread, very cold weather.

Enron Corp.’s former investor relations chief, Mark Koenig, stood his ground under tough cross examination Tuesday, contending it was wrong for the company to revise its earnings upward to meet Wall Street expectations.