Supplies

The physical market for weekend and Monday gas overall fell on average by about 6 cents Friday as traders noted a typical reluctance to purchase weekend supplies amid mild weather forecasts and the weekend reductions of industrial load. Particular weakness was noted at eastern points where warm temperatures were forecast to give way to seasonal readings by Monday and southern California locations tumbled as positive imbalances were expected over the weekend. At the close of futures trading June had jumped 14.8 cents to $2.742 and July added 14.9 cents to $2.822. June crude oil continued its descent dropping $1.08 to $91.48/bbl.

Looking to capitalize on the United States’ recent windfall of vast supplies of natural gas, Excelerate Energy LP is moving forward with the development of the first floating liquefaction facility in the country utilizing its Floating Liquefaction Storage Offloading (FLSO) vessel technology. The Lavaca Bay liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will be located in Port Lavaca, situated between Galveston and Corpus Christi on the Texas Gulf Coast, and will be designed to export LNG to markets worldwide by 2017.

Even with the huge Marcellus Shale, the high cost of natural gas vehicles and a lack of infrastructure to fuel the vehicles may deter growth in the state, according to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The outlook for takeaway capacity from the Marcellus Shale continued to brighten this week, with FERC approving three pipeline expansion projects — two requested by National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. and another by Texas Eastern Transmission — designed to feed Marcellus gas to Northeast markets.

The recent fire at the Lathrop natural gas compressor station in northeastern Pennsylvania, which forced a major Marcellus Shale producer to reroute gas supplies for several days, is highlighting a gap in pipeline safety legislation passed earlier this year.

The recent fire at the Lathrop natural gas compressor station in northeastern Pennsylvania, which forced a major Marcellus Shale producer to reroute gas supplies for several days, is highlighting a gap in pipeline safety legislation passed earlier this year.

The energy industry — thanks to advances in drilling and production techniques resulting in growing natural gas and oil supplies — can lift the U.S. economy out of its doldrums, but only if government regulation and permitting requirements don’t get in the way, speakers at a recent industry conference in Houston said.

The energy industry — thanks to advances in drilling and production techniques resulting in growing natural gas and oil supplies — can lift the U.S. economy out of its doldrums, but only if government regulation and permitting requirements don’t get in the way, speakers at a recent industry conference in Houston said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined a Chesapeake Energy Corp. subsidiary $565,000 for three incidents that occurred in the northern part of the state in the Marcellus Shale, including a blowout at a Bradford County well last April (see Shale Daily, April 25, 2011).