storage

CIG lifted Tuesday an Operational Warning it had issued in early October due to high load factors and limited storage injection capacity. CIG also noted in early November that the Operational Warning was still in effect (see Daily GPI, Nov. 4).

Prices continued to drop Monday in most of the East and at some locations in the Midcontinent and Midwest as moderate weather in most areas, ample storage supplies and screen weakness on the prior trading day again weighed on the cash market. Flat to a little more than $1.25 higher numbers at several points, primarily in the Midcontinent and Rockies, were able to benefit from the post-weekend return of industrial load and to some extent from bargain hunting after dropping to less than $2 in some instances Friday.

With storage building and natural gas prices no longer surging, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. (FBR) joined a growing chorus of energy analysts in trimming its forecast for U.S. gas prices for the next two years to reflect the “impending flood of shale gas.”

If pipeline and storage infrastructure keep pace, natural gas produced from U.S. shale basins is expected to account for 18% of Lower 48 supply by 2015, which is well ahead of the 8% of supply that shale gas accounted for in 2007, according to EnCana Corp. The Calgary-based producer, whose leaseholds are spread across unconventional gas basins in the United States and Canada, is shooting to be the leader of the pack, executives said Thursday.

Sempra Pipelines & Storage signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Williams and TransCanada Corp. to acquire a 25% stake in their proposed Sunstone Pipeline, which would carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountain basins to Oregon. A Sempra Energy affiliate also contracted for an undisclosed amount of capacity on the proposed $2.34 billion pipeline.

If pipeline and storage infrastructure can keep pace, natural gas produced from U.S. shale basins is expected to account for 18% of Lower 48 supply by 2015 — compared with the 8% of supply that shale gas accounted for in 2007, according to EnCana Corp. The Calgary-based producer, whose leaseholds are spread across unconventional gas basins in the United States and Canada, is shooting to be the leader of the pack, executives said Thursday.

Sempra Pipelines & Storage has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Williams and TransCanada Corp. to acquire a 25% stake in their proposed Sunstone Pipeline, which would carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountain basins to Oregon. A Sempra Energy affiliate also contracted for an undisclosed amount of capacity on the proposed $2.34 billion pipeline.

Southern Natural Gas has scheduled a shut-in test at the Bear Creek Storage Field in North Louisiana from Tuesday through next Monday. The test constitutes a force majeure event, Southern said, and as a result each CSS customer will be allocated 64% of its currently effective Daily Injection Quantity and Daily Withdrawal Quantity. Those customers were advised that the allocations will affect not only their CSS service, but also related injection/withdrawal capacity under no-notice firm transportation service.

Columbia Gulf Transmission Co., a unit of NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage (NGT&S), is holding a binding open season for capacity to move gas through its East Lateral downstream to interconnections with Southern Natural Gas (SNG) and Bridgeline Holdings.