Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II Buys Substantial Natural Gas Storage Facility

Remember, the continuum is Storage<>Hoarding<>Corner with no bright line distictions where one behavior becomes another.
Back in August 2007 we were writing:

...The September contract is trading at $5.82 down 21 cents.
The January '08 was $8.20. If you know anyone with (large) gas storage capacity (besides Uncle Dave on a fishing trip) drop me a line....

Eleven months later Henry Hub prices spiked to $13.68 per thousand cubic feet on July 2, 2008.
Now I'm thinking of storage once again.

From the Macquarie press release via 4Traders:

Macquarie Group Limited: Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II Completes Acquisition of Leaf River Energy Center LLC

• High performance salt cavern storage facility located in Smith County, Mississippi permitted for four caverns and 32 Bcf of total working gas capacity
• Uniquely positioned to capture Southeast and Northeast demand; ideally situated with access to multiple interstate pipelines
• Demand for salt cavern storage capacity in the Southeast driven by gas-fired power generation
• The facility's current capacity is fully contracted with strong credit counterparties

Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II ("MIP II"), a leading North American infrastructure fund, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Leaf River Energy Center LLC ("Leaf River") from NGS Energy, LP.

Leaf River is a state-of-the-art underground salt cavern facility located in Smith County, Mississippi. The Leaf River complex currently consists of two commercially operational caverns with a third cavern under development. The facility is currently permitted for four caverns and 32 Bcf of total working gas capacity....MORE

Speaking of storage the EIA reported today that 73Bcf were pulled from storage, far above estimates of the weekly withdrawal and putting the amount in storage below the prior year for the first time in 2012.
The front futures, of course, dropped, $3.65 down 6 cents, last.