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Forced back into action following the Thursday Independence Day Holiday, physical gas traders in quiet trading Friday for weekend and Monday delivery managed to push most price point averages higher by a few cents, except for in the Northeast and California. Coming off dollar-plus losses on Wednesday, a number of Marcellus Shale-related points reversed course Friday to gain 80 cents or more. California was the only area in the red, with multiple points dropping a nickel to 15 cents.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., the mega-operator that Aubrey McClendon built shale-by-shale, is being repurposed brick-by-brick as the company transitions from risky exploration to steady production.

Sales competition is undermining international prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to ExxonMobil Corp.’s export terminal proposal for the northern Pacific Coast of British Columbia (BC). The supermajor and Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd. noted the competition in a filing with the National Energy Board (NEB) to build terminal that could export as much as 30 million metric tons a year (mmty) to overseas markets.

Move over Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), Southern Natural Gas, Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC and Cypress Pipeline because Spectra Energy Corp. wants to build a 465-mile interstate natural gas pipeline into the Sunshine State.

Pacific NorthWest LNG has applied to the National Energy Board (NEB) for a license to export up to 19.68 million tonnes (mmty) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 25 years beginning in 2019 from its proposed facility in Port Edward, British Columbia (BC), not far from nine other proposed LNG projects centered on Prince Rupert, BC.

The Alberta government has stepped forward as a customer for the planned conversion of one large pipe of the six parallel pipes that comprise TransCanada Corp.’s natural gas Mainline, which has suffered severely declining natural gas transport volumes, to oil service (see Daily GPI, April 29).

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has asked Oregon regulators for approval to provide compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling service to business customers. The cost of the service would be paid by the individual customers using it.

Linde North America has broken ground for an air separation unit (ASU) plant in La Porte, TX, part of a $200 million investment that is to include a gasification train and supporting facilities. The German-based The Linde Group unit, set to begin operations in 1Q2015, would be the largest single site investment in plant and equipment to date in the United States. Oxygen and nitrogen produced by the ASU would supply gasification assets at the Texas site, converting natural gas into syngas and constituent products such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which are used to produce methanol, downstream chemicals and cleaner transportation fuels (see related story). The syngas products would be served by pipeline to a “key” customer, the company said. “Coupled with our unique portfolio of industrial gas and hydrocarbons technology, engineering and operations capabilities, the new plants will allow Linde to better serve the petrochemicals industry that is being driven to new heights by the shale gas revolution,” said Linde North America President Pat Murphy.

Physical natural gas prices tumbled 8 cents overall in Wednesday’s trading as traders prepared for the Independence Day holiday, and many sections of the country expected to see mild weather. Nearly all points were in the red, and Northeast points bucked the downtrend, but a couple of points in the Marcellus suffered losses of over a dollar or more.