Variations

Energy Secretary Steven Chu should cooperate with other federal agencies to address key issues confronting energy and water, such as hydraulic fracturing processes, according to a new government report.

CIG said various operating conditions related to gas loading factors in its Segment 118, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, have caused variations in pressure that affect the pressure needed to deliver gas to the east end delivery points of Segment 118. “To assist in controlling these varying pressure levels, CIG will establish a new constraint point: Beaver East (BEC) between Beaver…and Floris (FRS),” the pipeline said. The operationally available capacity at this point will be 210 MMcf/d beginning Thursday. The new BEC constraint point will limit deliveries to FRS, Forgan, Mocane and Mid-America, CIG said, but it will not affect firm primary nominations.

Most of the market was close to flat Wednesday, with variations from unchanged usually limited to a nickel up or down. However, a few points in the West rose by anywhere from a little under a dime to nearly 15 cents, while some Northeast citygates fell by as much as about 15 cents.

Regional variations in upward price trends tended to even out a bit Tuesday. With scattered exceptions, nearly all points were united in seeing gains ranging from a little less than 15 cents to about 35 cents; however, the lion’s share of increases were clustered around the 20-25 cents range. The primary skewing came in most of the smaller gains being recorded in the West.

Flat pricing dominated the cash market again Thursday, butregion-specific variations also continued. While numbers saw littlechange in the Gulf Coast, Midcontinent/Midwest and Southwest,Northeast deliveries took a dive and Rockies pipes saw gains ofabout a nickel or so. The Rockies and Northeast price movements,though divergent, were based on the same influences: changingweather. The East Coast is entering a warm-up period; meanwhile,recent record-setting warmth in the Rockies was a thing of the pastas a stormy cool front moved through the region toward the Plainsstates.

The source who commented “It’s a wild and crazy market outthere” when asked Friday to explain big variations in price quotesfor Nov. 1-2 business was understating the situation by manydegrees. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason at all in the earlyNovember aftermarket when traders were reporting ranges of 25-30cents for individual points in swing deals done Friday.