Test

After failing to test support in the mid $2.90s following a lower open Wednesday morning, natural gas futures contracts worked their way modestly higher in the afternoon as traders elected to look past another robust storage build to focus on hot weather and technical concerns. The September contract led the advance, rising 6.5 cents to close at $3.036. Estimated volume echoed the market’s tentative nature as only 60,979 contracts changed hands.

An early test is developing of the U.S. government’s declared intentions to help speed up gas pipeline projects, and of pledges by Canadian authorities to co-operate in cross-border projects. After waiting fruitlessly for a year for U.S. partners to obtain approvals, the Canadian Millennium Project has asked the National Energy Board to give it a last chance to stay alive on the Canadian side and wait for U.S. action.

An early test is developing of the U.S. government’s declared intentions to help speed up gas pipeline projects, and of pledges by Canadian authorities to co-operate in cross-border projects. After waiting fruitlessly for a year for U.S. partners to obtain approvals, the Canadian Millennium Project has asked the National Energy Board to give it a last chance to stay alive on the Canadian side and wait for U.S. action.

As hoped for by coalbed methane producers operating in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana regulators have reached a tentative agreement to prevent CBM production from polluting the rivers in the region. Under the tentative proposal announced last week, CBM producers would be allowed to dump discharge water on the ground over an 18-to-24-month period to determine if it actually pollutes the rivers.

If Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp.’s first two projects this week weren’t enough, another one is on the way. A day after filing two new expansions with FERC, one of which is the largest in the pipeline’s history, Transco said yesterday it is holding an open season for firm transportation service from Station 65 in Louisiana to Station 165 in Pittsylvania County, VA.

As hoped for by coalbed methane producers operating in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana regulators have reached a tentative agreement to prevent CBM production from polluting the rivers in the region. Under the proposal reached this week, CBM producers would be allowed to dump discharge water on the ground over an 18-to-24-month period to determine if it actually pollutes the rivers.

Williams Gas Pipeline Central is holding a binding open season through June 29 for 540,000 Dth/d of firm capacity on its proposed Western Frontier Pipeline Project. The project would provide a new transportation corridor from the Cheyenne Hub in northern Colorado to market points and connections with other Midcontinent pipelines in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Williams Gas Pipeline Central is holding a binding open season through June 29 for 540,000 Dth/d of firm capacity on its proposed Western Frontier Pipeline Project. The project would provide a new transportation corridor from the Cheyenne Hub in northern Colorado to market points and connections with other Midcontinent pipelines in Kansas and Oklahoma.

With little or no air-conditioning related demand on the horizon and amid a quickly eroding year-on-year storage deficit, natural gas futures slumped to new 9-month lows Monday as traders pressed the market’s downside yet again. After opening lower, the June contract was hit with a steady procession of commercial and speculative selling that took the market down to a previous low at $4.10 just before the closing bell. Unable to rebound, June closed just off that level at $4.113, down 17.3 cents for the day.