Monday, August 13, 2007

Natural Gas: Update

Gas gave up all its gains and is now down a couple cents.

If you missed it, the Houston Chronicle has a story on why you may not want to lock in a 240 month supply contract (Dec. may be okay):

Alaskan gas pipeline deadline extended

...This could be a huge project. The North Slope has about 35 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey. There's 8 BCF of gas that is simply recirculated back into the ground in Prudhoe Bay oil fields daily because it has nowhere to go and the U.S. doesn't just flare this stuff (it also helps maintain field pressure).

If it happens there will likely be plenty of Houston connections. There are plenty of pipeline companies based here that could be candidates to build and operate it, and two of the three major North Slope producers, ConocoPhillips and BP are either based here or have North American HQ here. Then there are all the pipeline engineering firms, natural gas traders, etc. that call Houston home. A delegation from Alaska was in town earlier this year to meet with companies about the project.

But as the AP story points out, the two-month deadline extension could either be a good sign or a bad sign:

More at the Chron.