Thursday

Natural gas prices for Wednesday physical delivery overall averaged a penny lower Tuesday despite some significant individual point gains in the Marcellus Shale. Elsewhere, most gains and losses were more or less equally dispersed, with most points trading a nickel on either side of unchanged.

The physical natural gas market continued its trek lower losing 4 cents on average overall Wednesday. Losses were close to a nickel in the Midwest, about 3 cents in the Midcontinent and about a nickel lower at most major market centers. At the close of futures trading September had posted a new five-month low closing at $3.247, down 7.1 cents on the day. October also dropped 7.1 cents to $3.272. September crude oil fell 93 cents to $104.37/bbl.

Williams on Thursday said it has restricted some natural gas pipeline services on its mainstay Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line LLC (aka Transco) because of capacity constraints in the Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus Shale.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court quashed an appeal by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday, leaving in place a judge’s order that the commission cannot use a review process to enforce some provisions of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

Hours ahead of EQT Corp.’s second quarter conference call on Thursday, the company tied into sales its first Utica Shale well, the CEO said.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last Thursday quashed an appeal by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), leaving in place an earlier court order that the commission cannot use a review process to enforce some provisions of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

FERC on Thursday issued a draft notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would allow interstate natural gas pipelines and electric transmission operators to share nonpublic operational information that they believe would promote reliable service and better planning on their systems. The proposal is the first concrete step that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has taken toward coordinating the two markets.

The Republican-led House on Thursday passed legislation that would enact the terms of a U.S.-Mexico transboundary agreement governing the development of shared oil and gas resources along the two countries’ maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama last week said he opposed the bill, but he stopped short of saying he would veto it.

California regulators Thursday approved a 50% increase in the working capacity of one of the state’s largest merchant-based underground natural gas storage facilities, Wild Goose Storage LLC, which is about 50 miles north of Sacramento.