Test

In its first regular front-month session, the June natural gas futures contract on Tuesday took a break from the recent spike to test out lower price values. The contract dipped back below $11 to record a $10.830 low before settling at $10.842, down 48.7 cents from Monday’s close and 43.8 cents lower than May’s expiration.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at its Thursday meeting gave Arlington Storage Co. a waiver of the agency’s certificate requirements in order to drill up to two test wells and conduct related testing activity to determine the technical and economic feasibility of developing an underground gas storage facility in the Thomas Corners Field in Steuben County, NY [CP08-60]. Arlington Storage is a subsidiary of Inergy LP.

Spectra Energy is holding an open season to test market interest in its proposed Bronco Pipeline, which would move natural gas from supply basins in the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Northwest and California. The open season runs through Feb. 8.

Spectra Energy is holding an open season to test market interest in its proposed Bronco Pipeline, which would move natural gas from supply basins in the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Northwest and California. The open season runs through Feb. 8.

After taking a mid-week breather to test the upside, near-month natural gas futures on Friday were back to the recent routine of probing support at $7. January natural gas futures closed out the week at $7.025, down 16.8 cents from Thursday and 13 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Cheyenne Plains Gas Pipeline said no problems were identified during Tuesday’s emergency shutdown test at its Cheyenne Plains Compressor Station and treating plant. It increased operationally available capacity Wednesday to 816 MMcf/d at the station and the Cheyenne Plains West constraint point, and to 874 MMcf/d at the Cheyenne Plains East constraint point. That represented a complete restoration of its system, which had been flowing about 780 MMcf/d prior to a mid-September station fire that briefly required a total shutdown (see Daily GPI, Sept. 18).

Drilling in a natural gas-prone area of Colorado where an underground nuclear test took place nearly 40 years ago is “relatively safe,” a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study has concluded.

Florida Gas Transmission allowed an Overage Alert Day to lapse last Saturday that been initiated a week earlier.

Vector Pipeline LP. said it plans to hold a binding open season in June to test shipper interest in expanding the capacity of its system by up to an additional 230 MMcf/d.