Store

Another two years of stable rates are in store for a mainstay of Canadian natural gas transportation after TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta pipeline grid reached a revenue requirement settlement with shippers.

Another two years of stable rates are in store for a mainstay of Canadian natural gas transportation after TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta pipeline grid reached a revenue requirement settlement with shippers.

As natural gas traders put 2007 firmly in their rear view mirrors, the focus now surrounds what exactly might be in store for prices in 2008. With traders widely agreeing that the days of $2-3/MMBtu are long gone, whether 2008 sees $5-6/MMBtu gas or $7-9/MMBtu gas will be largely influenced by the weather picture and whether increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes find their way to North America’s shores.

As natural gas traders put 2007 firmly in their rearview mirrors, the focus now surrounds what exactly might be in store for prices in 2008. With traders widely agreeing that the days of $2-3/MMBtu are long gone, whether 2008 sees $5-6/MMBtu gas or $7-9/MMBtu gas will be largely influenced by the weather picture and whether increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes find their way to North America’s shores.

Improvements in the overall natural gas supply and demand balance are in store in the intermediate term, which should result in lower prices, according to a new report by an Arlington, VA-based energy consultant. But in the longer term, it said higher prices will be required to spur the development of adequate supplies to satisfy increasing demand.

Fort Worth-based independent Range Resources Corp. may sell its Gulf Coast properties to focus on its large store of unconventional natural gas reserves in Texas, Appalachia and the Midcontinent, the company said last week. The Gulf Coast assets, 85% weighted to natural gas, account for about 4% of Range’s proved reserves and 11% of its production.

Dominion Transmission will begin an open season on Tuesday to solicit interest in its proposed Dominion Hub Project, which would be designed to receive and store new natural gas supplies from the western United States for delivery throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The open season, which will end June 27, will solicit interest in 18 million Dth of storage capacity with 300,000 Dth/d of deliverability.

For the second time in two years, growth is in store for the Dawn trading and storage hub in southwestern Ontario as TransCanada PipeLines adapts to changing international gas supply patterns.

As sources had predicted Friday, a sharp rebound from huge weekend price plunges was in store for Monday. Sure enough, all points rallied Monday by amounts ranging from about 40 cents to more than $1.30, with nearly all of the gains of a dollar or more being recorded in the West.