Volume

Natural gas industry stakeholders are turning up the volume on the clean transportation market as an increasingly realistic outlet for the gusher of gas that is emerging from North America’s burgeoning shale plays. This was made clear during the recent winter meetings of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Washington, DC.

Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) said Thursday it had growth in 2010 in average daily sales volume and in proved reserves, while also posting net income of $103.3 million for the year.

Despite the lack of trading volume due to the shortened week in between holidays, January natural gas futures on Tuesday rallied 10.4 cents on the day to expire at $4.216. February futures, which is the new prompt-month contract, added 13.3 cents to close at $4.288.

Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX) has agreed to provide the Alberta Department of Energy with an Alberta gas price index, referred to as the Alberta Market Price (AMP). The AMP is a volume-weighted average of cleared transacted prices for all gas delivered in a calendar month at the NGX Alberta market center on the TransCanada Corp. Alberta System, NGX said. The department will use the AMP to calculate its gas reference price, forming the basis of the royalty obligations for Alberta energy producers. The launch of the new pricing regime is planned for January.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), one of the biggest equipment manufacturers in the oilfield services industry, saw its share price jump more than 7% in heavy volume Tuesday after the company reported a huge jump in the backlog for rig equipment orders.

Average net production in the Appalachian business unit of Atlas Energy Inc. hit a record 63.3 MMcfe/d in 3Q2010, representing a 53%-plus increase in output year/year and a 15.4% jump from the previous three months, the Pittsburgh-based producer said Wednesday.

After pushing a few pennies higher in low-volume trading on Friday, the upward momentum appeared to run out heading into Monday’s regular session as the January natural gas contract plummeted back below $5. The prompt-month contract reached a low of $4.823 before closing out the day at $4.848, down 34.4 cents from Friday’s finish.

Some companies saw substantial growth and others saw their numbers fall, but the total volume of natural gas sold in North America in 1Q2009 remained basically flat, falling less than 0.5 Bcf/d from the same period last year, according to NGI’s 1Q2009 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

Maritimes & Northeast U.S. (M&N) said it learned that the Sable Offshore Energy Inc. (SOEI) production facility had encountered a decrease in output volume Friday. “Due to this decrease in supply, shippers sourcing their supply from SOEI should contact their supplier to get any information that may be desired concerning the cause, extent and duration of the event, as well as the potential of this event causing supply restrictions for current and/or future gas days,” M&N said. It added that all shippers must act to avoid the creation of due-pipe imbalances and not take due-shipper imbalance paybacks.