Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  As severe weather pounds the plains of Oklahoma and Texas again today, spot natural gas prices are rebounding slightly in advance of June’s NYMEX close. 

Today, we’ll also review the latest interstate pipeline company critical notices plus provide an update on latest energy news and give you the latest National Weather Service temperature forecast for the month of June, too.

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At the New York Mercantile Exchange

(Nymex) today, the price of the June 2019 contract increased by nearly four

cents to about $2.67/MMBtu on Monday.  The

price of the 12-month strip averaging June 2019 through May 2020 futures

contracts has gained about six cents the past week to nearly $2.81/MMBtu. 

From the US Energy Information Administration’s “Natural Gas Weekly Update” publication…

Net injections to working gas totaled

106 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending May 10. Working natural gas

stocks are 1.653 Tcf, which is 15% lower than the five-year (2014–18) average

for this week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite

price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by five cents, averaging $5.73/MMBtu for the

week ending May 15. The price of ethane and natural

gasoline fell by 2% and 1%, respectively. The price of propane, isobutane, and

butane rose by 3%, 2%, and 1%, respectively.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, May 7, the natural gas rig count remained flat at 183. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by 2 to 805. The total rig count decreased by 2, and it now stands at 988.

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Global investment firm KKR and Western Natural Resources, LLC (“Western”) today announced a new partnership to acquire producing and undeveloped oil and gas assets in the Williston Basin.

Western’s

CEO Heath Mireles and his team bring extensive operating experience to the

partnership, having drilled, completed and operated thousands of wells over the

Williston Basin’s long history. The Western team will leverage their collective

experiences from time spent at large public operators as well as other private

companies to acquire, manage and develop producing wells and drilling locations

throughout the play.

Ben

Conner, Director on KKR’s Energy Real Assets team, said, “The Williston

continues to be a core area of focus for us as we see a significant opportunity

to acquire high quality producing assets with attractive long-term value

creation opportunities to be delivered through superior technical and

operational execution. We have known Heath and members of his team for years

and believe our partnership is well positioned to acquire and manage assets in

the Williston for the long run.”

Western is a private company focused on the acquisition and exploitation of upstream oil and gas assets. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, its primary objective is to build and operate a large-scale portfolio of producing oil and gas wells and drilling locations in the Williston Basin.

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Today, NRG Energy, Inc. agreed to acquire Dallas-based Stream Energy’s retail electricity and natural gas business for $300 million plus worki...

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  We always review the country’s interstate natural gas pipeline companies for their most recent critical postings and bring you information about changes in pipeline operating conditions. 

Plus, we will update you on the latest publicly released news from major energy companies and provide the extended temperature forecast for the next few weeks from the National Weather Service, too.  

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From the US Energy Information Administration, working gas in storage was estimated at 1,653 Bcf as of Friday, May 10, 2019. This represents a net increase of 106 Bcf from the previous week.

Stocks were 130 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 286 Bcf below the five-year average of 1,939 Bcf. At 1,653 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.

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OG& E Chairman, President and CEO Sean Trauschke today told the company’s shareholders that the company is “strong and built for the long term.” Speaking at the company’s annual meeting, Trauschke said he was pleased with the performance of OG&E, Oklahoma’s largest investor-owned utility, and Enable Midstream, in which the company owns interest, as both had contributed to the company’s ability to invest in its customers, and maintain utility rates that are 31 percent below the national average.

“2018

will be the benchmark the company uses to gauge future performance. OG&E completed its largest

ever investment program, wrapping up more than $6 billion of infrastructure

investment since 2011, on time, under budget and while receiving recognition as

the safest utility in the Southeastern Electric Exchange,” Trauschke said.

“At Enable, we’re seeing continued solid operational and financial results, while volumes

are increasing across all of their business segments.”

Looking

ahead, he said the company will continue to focus on growing the business

through an enhanced customer experience at affordable rates. “The new

assets we’ve put into operation have increased fleet resiliency for customer

benefit. We will continue to leverage our smart meters and technology that

increases reliability and reduces outage response and restoration times.”

OGE Energy is the parent company of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company, a regulated electric utility serving approximately 852,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas. In addition, OGE holds a 25.5 percent limited partner interest and a 50 percent general partner interest of Enable Midstream Partners, LP.

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On Tuesday, Sempra Energy celebrated the completion of construction of Train 1 of the Cameron LNG export project in Hackberry, La., with a group of international, federal, state and local officials, including the U.S. president and members of the U.S. administration. The celebratory visit coincided with today’s announcement that Cameron LNG is producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the first liquefaction train of the three-train facility, a major commissioning milestone.

Sempra Energy set a goal in 2018 to

become the largest developer of North American LNG export infrastructure,

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com.  A variety of springtime weather conditions has caused a late season snowfall in the Rockies and northern tier of states while a large area of severe weather and flooding caused issues in the South.  Meanwhile, spot natural gas prices seem to be stuck in neutral as we start the new week.   

Today, we’ll also review the latest interstate pipeline company critical notices, provide an update on latest energy news, and cover the latest National Weather Service temperature forecast into late May, too.

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From the US Energy Information Administration’s “Natural Gas Weekly Update” publication:

Net injections to working gas totaled

85 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending May 3. Working natural gas

stocks are 1.547 Tcf, which is 16% lower than the five-year (2014–18) average

for this week.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange

(Nymex), the price of the June 2019 contract was nearly static at $2.62/MMBtu

on Monday.  The price of the 12-month

strip averaging June 2019 through May 2020 futures contracts is now about $2.75/MMBtu.

Strong natural gas production, as well

as rapidly-rising demand, resulted in record-high production of natural gas

plant liquids, which reached 4.7 million barrels per day (b/d) in February

2019. Growth in natural gas plant liquids production was led by ethane, which

was nearly 130,000 barrels per day (b/d) higher than in the previous month.

The natural gas plant liquids composite

price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 43¢/MMBtu, averaging $5.69/MMBtu for the

week ending May 8. The price of natural gasoline, ethane, propane, butane, and

isobutane all fell, by 2%, 5%, 8%, 12%, and 13%, respectively.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, April 30, the natural gas rig count decreased by three to 183. The number of oil-directed rigs rose by two to 807. The total rig count decreased by one and now stands at 990.

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OG&E, a subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp., announced that the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) today unanimously approved the company’s preapproval application to acquire the AES Shady Point plant near Poteau, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Cogeneration LLC facility in Oklahoma City.

The company,

which filed its preapproval request in December 2018, is expected to pay approximately $53 million for

the two plants – both of which have served OG&E customers for several

decades under federally mandated power purchase agreements.

“These

acquisitions create a win-win on multiple fronts,” said OG&E spokesman

Brian Alford. “Our customers will save tens of millions of dollars each

year by eliminating costly, federally mandated agreements. The Shady Point acquisition will

help maintain grid stability as growth continues in eastern Oklahoma and

western Arkansas. It also ensures many jobs will be preserved in an

economically challenged region. The Oklahoma Cogen acquisition will help ensure the facility’s

natural-gas-fired capacity will continue to support reliability and resiliency

in the ever-growing Oklahoma City-metro area. And, we’ll see a further

reduction in power plant air emissions as a result of the acquisitions.”

Shady Point has a generation capacity of 360MW and Oklahoma Cogeneration has a capacity of 146MW.

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  We check the country’s interstate natural gas pipeline companies for their most recent critical postings and bring you information about significant changes in pipeline operating conditions prior to this Mother’s Day weekend.

Today, we will also update you on the latest publicly released news about one of Anadarko Petroleum‘s suitors. Plus, we’ll give you the extended temperature forecast through May 19 from the National Weather Service, too.  

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From the US Energy Information Administration, working natural gas in storage was 1.547 Tcf as of Friday, May 3, 2019.  This represents a net increase of 85 Bcf from the previous week.

Natural gas in storage is now 16% below

the five-year historical average.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the natural gas futures price for June, 2019 was down more than three cents on Thursday to finish at about $2.57/MMBtu. 

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Chevron Corporation announced today that, under the terms of its previously announced Merger Agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, it will not make a counterproposal and will allow the four-day match period to expire.  Accordingly, Chevron anticipates that Anadarko will terminate the Merger Agreement.

Chevron’s Chairman and CEO Michael

Wirth said, “Winning in any environment doesn’t mean winning at any cost. Cost

and capital discipline always matter, and we will not dilute our returns or

erode value for our shareholders for the sake of doing a deal. Our advantaged

portfolio is driving robust production and cash flow growth, higher investment

returns and lower execution risk. We are well positioned to deliver superior

value creation for our shareholders.”

Upon termination of the Merger Agreement, Anadarko will be required to pay Chevron a termination fee of $1 billion.

Earlier this week, Anadarko’s Board of Directors deemed a revised offer from Occidental Petroleum Corporation as a “Superior Proposal” and plans to move ahead with the OXY offer.

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On Wednesday, Marathon Petroleum Corporation and midstream affiliates MPLX LP and Andeavor Logistics LP announced that the two midstream companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby MPLX will acquire Andeavor in a unit-for-unit transaction at a blended exchange ratio of 1.07x. This represents an equity value of approximately $9 billion and an enterprise value of $14 billion for the acquired entity. The transaction has been unanimously approved by MPLX’s and ANDX’s respective Conflicts Committees and both Boards of Directors. Subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019.

Under

the terms of the merger agreement, ANDX public unitholders will receive 1.135x

MPLX common units for each ANDX common unit held, representing a premium of

7.3%, and MPC will receive 1.0328x MPLX common units for each ANDX common unit

held, representing a 2.4% discount. The blended exchange ratio of 1.07x

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com! The battle for control of Anadarko Petroleum has taken another step as one of the suitors has sweetened the pot on Sunday! 

Meanwhile, a variety of springtime

temperatures (some cool and others quite warm) have continued to depress the

natural gas prices again as we start the week. 

  

We’ll check the latest interstate pipeline company critical notices plus an update on latest energy news and temperature forecasts into the middle of May, too.

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At the NYMEX, the June 2019 contract closed at about $2.53/MMBtu, down 4¢ from Friday. The price of the 12-month strip averaging June 2019 through May 2020 futures contracts has dropped 6¢ over the past week to about $2.67/MMBtu on Monday.

From the US Energy Information Administration’s “Natural Gas Weekly Update” publication, net injections to working gas in storage totaled 123 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending April 26. Volumes in storage are currently 1.462 Tcf, which is 18% lower than the five-year (2014–18) average for this week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 1¢, averaging $6.11/MMBtu for the week ending May 1. The price of isobutane, natural gasoline, and butane fell by 1%, 2%, and 3% respectively. The price of propane rose by 2%. The price of ethane remained flat week over week.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, April 23, the natural gas rig count decreased by 1 to 186. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by 20 to 805. The total rig count decreased by 21, and it now stands at 991.

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On Sunday, Occidental Petroleum Corporation delivered a letter to the Board of Directors of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation setting forth the terms of a revised and significantly enhanced superior proposal to acquire Anadarko for $76.00 per share comprised of $59.00 in cash and 0.2934 shares of Occidental common stock per share of Anadarko common stock.

The

revised proposal, which has been unanimously approved by the Occidental Board

of Directors, represents a premium of approximately 23.3% to the $61.62 per

share value of Chevron’s pending offer as of market close on May 3, 2019.

On

April 29, 2019, Anadarko announced its Board of Directors had determined that

Occidental’s prior proposal, made on April 24, could reasonably be expected to

result in a “Superior Proposal”, and the two companies have engaged since that

determination.

Occidental’s President and CEO, Vicki Hollub, said, “We firmly believe that Occidental is uniquely positioned to drive significant value and growth from Anadarko’s highly complementary asset portfolio. This combination will create a global energy leader with the scale and geographic diversification to drive compelling returns to the shareholders of both companies,” she added.

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Williams reported Friday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing the Northeast Supply Enhancement project – an expansion of the existing Transco natural gas pipeline designed to serve New York markets in time for the 2020/2021 winter heating season.

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  We always review the country’s interstate natural gas pipeline companies for their most recent critical postings and bring you information about changes in pipeline operating conditions. 

Plus, we will update you on the latest publicly released news from major energy companies and, with golf weather covering most of the country, provide the extended temperature forecast for the next few weeks from the National Weather Service, too.  

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According to the US Energy Information Administration, working gas in storage was 1.462 Tcf as of Friday, April 26, 2019. This represents a net increase of 123 Bcf from the previous week.

Natural gas in storage is now 316 Bcf (approximately 18%) below the five-year average.

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NRG Energy, Inc. expects to return to service its inactive 385 MW Gregory natural gas plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Gregory plant ceased operations in late 2016 when its cogeneration partner, Sherwin Alumina, filed for bankruptcy and discontinued operations. Following resolution of certain issues resulting from the Sherwin Alumina bankruptcy, the Gregory plant is expected to return to service as a combined cycle facility in early June 2019.

“I

am pleased to announce the return to service of this highly efficient natural

gas plant,” said Mauricio Gutierrez, President and CEO of NRG. “The Public

Utility Commission of Texas’ recent actions to further strengthen the ERCOT

market reinforced our decision to return Gregory to service ahead of summer,

providing additional reliability to our customers and Texas’ growing economy.”

At full power, the Gregory plant can meet the needs of approximately 77,000 homes on the hottest days of the year.

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Despite warmer weather across much of the United States, there are still several critical postings coming from the electronic bulletin boards of the major interstate natural gas pipeline transporters. Let’s review the latest news:

Algonquin Gas Transmission:

In order to maintain the operational integrity of the system, Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC (AGT) is issuing an Operational Flow Order (OFO) pursuant to Section 26 of the General Terms and Conditions of AGT’s FERC Gas Tariff effective 9:00 AM CCT, May 2, 2019, to all parties, with the exception of those Operational Balancing Agreements required by FERC regulations, on the AGT system.

This OFO does not affect the ability of AGT to receive or deliver quantities of gas for scheduled nominations to any customer or pipeline.

During the effectiveness of this OFO, all parties must be balanced such that actual deliveries of gas out of the system must be equal to or less than scheduled deliveries. The penalty shall apply to each dekatherm of actual delivery quantities that exceeds the greater of 4,000 Dth or 104% of scheduled delivery quantities. The penalty will be equal to three times the daily Platts Gas Daily “Daily Price Survey” posting for the High Common price for “Algonquin, city-gates” for the day on which such violation occurred as indicated in AGT’s General Terms and Conditions Section 26.8. In addition, AGT will not permit retroactive nominations to avoid an OFO penalty.

AGT may be required to issue an hourly OFO pursuant to General Terms and Conditions Section 26.7(d) to impose further restrictions in order to maintain the operational integrity of t...

Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  With the month of May nearly upon us, warmer temperatures across much of the country are starting to cause the air conditioners to come online again and, with it, more electric generation utilizing natural gas for the summer season.

Today, we’ll take a look at the latest energy news, scan the interstate natural gas pipeline grid, and bring you the updated six-to-ten day temperature forecast from the National Weather Service. 

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From the US Energy Information Administration’s “Natural Gas Weekly Update” publication, net injections into working gas totaled 92 Bcf for the week ending April 19. Working natural gas stocks are 1.339 Tcf, which is 22% lower than the five-year (2014–18) average for this week.

The NYMEX natural gas futures price

beginning June, 2019 added two cents on Monday to finish the day a little more

than $2.59/MMBtu.  The 12-month price

strip from June, 2019 to May, 2020 is now $2.73/MMBtu.

The natural gas plant liquids composite

price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 3¢/MMBtu, averaging $6.12/MMBtu for the

week ending April 24. The price of propane fell by 3%.

The price of natural gasoline and ethane rose by 2% and 1%, respectively. The

price of butane and isobutane remained flat week over week.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, April 16, the natural gas rig count decreased by 2 to 187. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by 8 to 825. The total rig count decreased by 10, and it now stands at 1,012.

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Anadarko Petroleum Corporation today announced that it intends to resume negotiations with Occidental Petroleum Corporation in response to Occidental’s proposal to acquire Anadarko, which was announced by Occidental on April 24, 2019 (the “Occidental Proposal”). As disclosed previously, Anadarko entered into a definitive merger agreement with Chevron Corporation on April 11, 2019 (the “Chevron Merger Agreement”).

Anadarko is resuming its earlier

negotiations with Occidental because Anadarko’s board of directors, following

consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined

that the Occidental Proposal could reasonably be expected to result in a

“Superior Proposal” as defined in the Chevron Merger Agreement.

The Occidental Proposal

reflects significant improvement with respect to indicative value, terms and

conditions, and closing certainty as compared to any previous proposal

Occidental made to Anadarko.

Under

the Occidental Proposal, Occidental would acquire Anadarko in a transaction

with consideration comprised of $38.00 in cash and 0.6094 of a share of

Occidental common stock per share of Anadarko common stock. 

Under

the Chevron Merger Agreement, Chevron would acquire Anadarko in a transaction

with consideration comprised of $16.25 in cash and 0.3869 of a share of Chevron

common stock per share of Anadarko common stock.

The Anadarko board’s determination allows Anadarko to resume negotiations with Occidental in accordance with the Chevron Merger Agreement. The Chevron Merger Agreement remains in effect and accordingly the Anadarko board reaffirms its existing recommendation of the transaction with Chevron at this time.

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Welcome to GasNewsOnline.com!  We always review the country’s largest interstate natural gas pipeline companies for their most recent critical postings and bring you information about changes in gas pipeline operating conditions. 

Plus, we will update you on the latest publicly released news from major energy companies and provide the extended temperature forecast for the next few weeks from the National Weather Service, too.  

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From the US Energy Information Administration, working natural gas in storage increased by 92 Bcf for the period ending Friday, April 19.   Natural gas volumes in storage are 369 Bcf or 22% below the five-year average for the same week. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the May, 2019 natural gas futures price climbed nearly five cents on Thursday to close at nearly $2.51/MMBtu.

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Will there be a bidding war for Anadarko Petroleum?   After last week’s bid by Chevron to acquire Anadarko, Occidental Petroleum Corporation submitted a competing bid for the company on Tuesday.

Occidental

delivered a letter to the Anadarko Board of Directors setting forth the terms

of a superior proposal by Oxy to acquire Anadarko for $76.00 per share, in

which Anadarko shareholders would receive $38.00 in cash and 0.6094 shares of

Occidental common stock for each share of Anadarko common stock. The Occidental

proposal represents a premium of approximately 20% to the value of Anadarko’s

pending transaction from Chevron.

Occidental

believes its proposal is superior both financially and strategically for

Anadarko’s shareholders, creating a global energy leader with the scale and

geographic diversification to drive growth and deliver compelling value and

returns to the shareholders of both companies. The combined company will be

uniquely positioned to leverage Occidental’s demonstrated operational and technical

expertise, producing greater anticipated synergies than Anadarko’s pending

transaction. The 50-50

cash and stock transaction is valued at $57 billion, based on Occidental’s

closing price on April 23, 2019, including the assumption of net debt and book

value of non-controlling interest.

“Occidental

is a leader in using technological innovation to create value, and we will

deploy our expertise to enhance the performance and productivity of Anadarko’s

assets not only in the Permian, but globally,” said Vicki Hollub, Oxy’s President and Chief Executive

Officer said, “Occidental and Anadarko have a highly complementary asset

portfolio, providing us with a unique opportunity to realize significant

operating, cost, and capital allocation synergies and achieve near-term cash

flow accretion.”

Vicki Hollub continued, “We have been focused on Anadarko for several years because we have long believed that we are ideally positioned to generate compelling value from a combination with them. We look forward to engaging immediately with Anadarko’s Board and stakeholders to deliver this superior transaction.”

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Murphy Oil Corporation announced Tuesday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA (“Murphy”), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire deep water Gulf of Mexico assets from L...

Happy Earth Day from GasNewsOnline.com!

April temperatures are starting to rise around the country as the annual springtime warm-up is underway.  Today, we’ll take a look at the latest energy news, scan the interstate natural gas pipeline grid, and bring you an update on the six-to-ten day temperature forecast from the National Weather Service. 

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From the US Energy Information Administration’s “Natural Gas Weekly Update” publication:

Net natural gas injections into storage

totaled 92 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending April 12. Working

natural gas stocks are 1.247 Tcf, which is  25% lower than the five-year (2014–18) average

for the same week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite

price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 21¢/MMBtu, averaging $6.15/MMBtu for the

week ending April 17. The price of ethane, propane,

butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline all rose, by 7%, 4%, 2%, 2% and 1%,

respectively.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week

ending Tuesday, April 9, the natural gas rig count decreased by 5 to 189. The

number of oil-directed rigs rose by 2 to 833. The total rig count decreased by

3, and it now stands at 1,022.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the price of the May 2019 contract increased by a few cents on Monday to about $2.53/MMBtu. The price of the 12-month strip averaging May 2019 through April 2020 futures contracts is now about $2.75/MMBtu.

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ExxonMobil said today that it signed a sales and purchase agreement with Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. Under the agreement, Zhejiang Energy is expected to receive 1 million metric tons per annum of LNG over 20 years as Zhejiang Energy will build a Wenzhou LNG receiving terminal.

“This

sales and purchase agreement represents an important milestone and provides a

solid foundation for our strategic partnership with Zhejiang Provincial Energy

Group,” said Peter Clarke, senior vice president of LNG at ExxonMobil.

“ExxonMobil

shares Zhejiang Energy’s vision in developing a major LNG gateway in the

Ningbo-Zhoushan region,” Clarke said. “We look forward to continuing our support

for Zhejiang Energy during the construction, commissioning and operation of its

Wenzhou LNG receiving terminal.”

With a long-term commitment to China, ExxonMobil expects to help meet China’s energy needs through its products, technologies, partnerships and investments.

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American Electric Power today announced that its competitive renewable energy subsidiary, AEP Clean Energy Resources, has completed the purchase of Sempra Renewables LLC and its 724 megawatts (MW) of operating wind generation and battery assets for approximately $1.05 billion. AEP will pay Sempra $584 million in cash, which includes $33 million in working capital, and assume $470 million in existing project debt and tax equity obligations, subject to adjustments.

The purchase includes all or part of

seven wind farms and one battery installation in seven states. Five of the wind

farms are jointly owned with BP Wind Energy. BP Wind Energy will retain its

ownership share of those projects.

Welcome to a very busy Easter weekend edition of GasNewsOnline.com!  There are a host of critical notices from several of the country’s interstate natural gas pipeline companies about issues relating to changes in pipeline operating conditions. 

Plus, we’ll also update you on the latest publicly released news of the day and provide the first glimpse of May’s expected temperatures from the National Weather Service, too.  

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Working natural gas in storage was 1.247 Tcf as of Friday, April 12, 2019, according to US Energy Information Administration estimates. This represents a net increase of 92 Bcf (which was 5 Bcf greater than analyst estimates). 

Natural gas stocks were 414 Bcf (or

26%) below the five-year average for the same week. 

On the NYMEX, the May, 2019 natural gas futures price reacted to the news and was down about three cents on Thursday at approximately $2.49/MMBtu.   Natural gas prices declined to their lowest level in nearly three years due to a seasonal lull in heating and cooling demand combined with surging gas supplies. 

It is interesting to note that not a single month of today’s NYMEX natural gas futures strip (through April, 2021) showed a natural gas price above $3.00/MMBtu.

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During today’s quarterly earnings release and conference call, Kinder Morgan provided an update on a few natural gas pipeline projects currently in progress:

In the Permian area, construction

continues on the Gulf Coast Express

Pipeline (GCX) project. The remaining 40 miles of the 36-inch Midland

lateral was placed in service at the beginning of April 2019. Construction is

progressing well on the 42-inch mainline and compressor stations associated

with the project, which remains on schedule for a full in-service date of

October 2019.

The approximately $1.75 billion project

is designed to transport about 2.0 Bcf/d of natural gas from the Permian Basin

to the Agua Dulce, Texas area, and is fully subscribed under long-term, binding

agreements.

Progress also continues on the Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP) project .

The civil and environmental surveys are substantially complete, and the land

acquisition process is underway.

The approximately $2 billion PHP

Project is designed to transport up to 2.1 Bcf/d of natural gas through

approximately 430 miles of 42-inch pipeline from the Waha, Texas area to the

U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico markets and is expected to be in service in October

2020, pending regulatory approvals.

On the East Coast, the first of ten

liquefaction units of the nearly $2 billion Elba Liquefaction Project is expected to be placed in service by

approximately May 1, 2019. The remaining nine units are expected to be placed

in service sequentially, one per month thereafter.

The federally approved project at the existing Southern LNG Company facility at Elba Island near Savannah, Georgia, will have a total liquefaction capacity of approximately 2.5 million tonnes per year of LNG, equivalent to approximately 350 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

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In summary, many interstate natural gas pipelines have posted critical notices to shippers requiring that they do not create pipeline imba...