Weekend

In a surprising shift in policy, President Obama announced over the weekend that his administration plans to open previously closed areas in Alaska, off the Atlantic Coast and in new areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to oil and natural gas drilling, at the same time extending some current leases. Obama said he nevertheless supports a Senate bill to cut billions of dollars of subsidies for producers.

Those who viewed the lackluster morning trade and forecasted a quiet lead into the weekend for natural gas futures were sorely mistaken as a fierce round of short-covering was sparked just before 2 p.m. EDT. April natural gas futures reached a high of $4.425 before closing out the regular session at $4.403, up 15.9 cents from Thursday’s close.

Ask the former chief of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) what he thinks of a story last weekend in the New York Times about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) and you will get an earful (see related coverage at shaledaily.com).

A story about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking), which was published by the New York Times last weekend, was “deliberately misleading,” the former chief of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Monday.

Federal regulators said over the weekend that natural gas flowing from a Gulf of Mexico platform jointly owned 50/50 by Apache Corp. and Stone Energy has stopped (see Daily GPI, Jan. 20).

A frigid weekend in many sections was becoming a distant memory for many people who thought they had already seen too much winter already. Spot gas demand was dropping, and it was quite possible that more storage supplies were being substituted in its place, resulting in substantial declines in numbers across the board Tuesday.

Depressurization of a leaking salt cavern gas storage cavern in Eminence, MS, was expected to continue through the weekend, said a spokesman for Williams, owner of the seven-cavern facility.

Depressurization of a leaking salt cavern gas storage cavern in Eminence, MS, was expected to continue through the weekend, said a spokesman for Williams, owner of the seven-cavern facility.

Over the weekend BP plc began replacing the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap over the Deepwater Horizon’s failed blowout preventer with a new sealing cap assembly. On Monday COO Doug Suttles said the company expected to install the new cap later in the day.