Suspected

An investigation is ongoing into the Wednesday morning rupture and explosion on a segment of Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) in southeastern Ohio, but girth weld failure is suspected. The same Line 200-4 pipeline experienced such a failure earlier this year, as did the similar Line 200-1 pipeline.

Twenty-eight residents of tiny DISH, TX — where Barnett Shale natural gas drilling and pipeline operations have been suspected of polluting the air — who were tested for exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC) were not found to have unusual levels of the contaminants, according to results of biological tests from a Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) investigation.

Twenty-eight residents of tiny DISH, TX — where Barnett Shale natural gas drilling and pipeline operations have been suspected of polluting the air — who were tested for exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC) were not found to have unusual levels of the contaminants, according to results of biological tests from a Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) investigation.

As a Texas marketer had suspected, Tuesday’s decline of 15.8 cents by March futures was sufficient to take cash prices lower Wednesday, abetted by moderate warming trends in some areas. Although he thought some of the areas experiencing the most severe winter weather might be able to keep firming, it turned out that double-digit drops occurred across the board.

As a Texas marketer had suspected, Tuesday’s decline of 15.8 cents by March futures was sufficient to take cash prices lower Wednesday, abetted by moderate warming trends in some areas. Although he thought some of the areas experiencing the most severe winter weather might be able to keep firming, it turned out that double-digit drops occurred across the board.

Lightning was suspected as the cause of a 50-minute power outage Wednesday afternoon that knocked out power to nearly half a million people on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and in the western part of the Bronx, Consolidated Edison Co. of New York (ConEd) said last week. The utility also was blitzed by more outages in other parts of the city following severe thunderstorms later Wednesday night.

Taking its cue from the crude oil pit on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the May natural gas futures contract on Wednesday looked to further test support, dropping another 4.4 cents to close at $5.744. It was the second straight day of losses for gas and oil futures.

Those who suspected Thursday that the week’s upward price momentum was starting to fade go to the head of the class. After four straight days of rising quotes at nearly all points, softness set in Friday across the board. Declines ranged from about a nickel to a quarter, with a majority being in the teens.

As NGI sources had suspected the day before, the cash market couldn’t keep rising indefinitely without visible means of support. Sure enough, eastern prices finally reacted Thursday to the one-two punch of weakening futures and only a modicum of weather-related demand by registering declines that were mostly in the vicinity of a dime but ranged from about a nickel to a little more than 20 cents.