Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) – Canadian natural-gas prices, which reached the highest in almost 30 months on Aug. 31, fell for the second day in three as U.S. Gulf of Mexico production shut by Hurricane Katrina started to return.
About 7.2 billion cubic feet of gas production was shuttered in the Gulf as of 12:30 p.m. New York time, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said. About 8.8 billion in production was cut immediately after Katrina hit.
“Some of the hurricane hype is starting to come off, although prices will probably remain strong.'’ said Martin King, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary. “There’s no strategic reserve to draw on for natural-gas.'’
Gas for same-day delivery at EnCana Corp.’s AECO C hub in Alberta, the nation’s largest trading point, fell 25 cents, or 2.4 percent, to C$10.20 per gigajoule ($9.09 per million British thermal units) at 12:35 p.m. Calgary time on Natural Gas Exchange Inc.’s NGX electronic energy market.
Next-day gas at Duke Energy Corp.’s Westcoast No. 2 station in central British Columbia was up 16 cents to C$9.86 per gigajoule.
Prices were down 10 cents to $11.05 per million Btu at Duke’s Dawn, Ontario, hub.
October gas slipped 6.6 cents to $11.691 per million Btu on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Pipelines
Volume on TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta system, which gathers most of the gas produced in Canada, was 13.7 billion cubic feet at 1:30 p.m. Calgary time. Producers will add 360 million cubic feet of gas to Alberta storage today, according to a TransCanada forecast.
Gas was flowing at a daily rate of 5.18 billion cubic feet at Empress, Alberta, where the fuel is transferred to TransCanada’s main line.
At McNeil, Saskatchewan, where gas is transferred to the Northern Border Pipeline for shipment to the Chicago area, the flow rate was 2.11 billion cubic feet.
Available capacity on TransCanada’s British Columbia system, which carries gas to the U.S. border at Eastport, Idaho, was 963 million cubic feet. The system is forecast to carry 1.69 billion cubic feet today, about 64 percent of capacity.
The volume on Duke’s British Columbia system, which gathers the fuel in northeastern British Columbia for delivery to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest, totaled 2.75 billion cubic feet at 11:17 a.m. Seattle time.
Source: Bloomberg
WASHINGTON, September 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Hurricane Katrina ruined 58 oilrigs in the Gulf of Mexico, a representative of the American Petroleum Institute said on Friday. He said 30 oilrigs could not be restored.
Apache oil company, which announced the loss of eight oilrigs producing about 7,200 barrels of oil and 12.1 million cubic meters of gas a day, suffered large damages.
American experts said that total losses in the oil production have amounted to daily 7.44 barrels since August 26.
The Gulf of Mexico was supplying up to 30% of all U.S. crude and one-fourth of natural gas to the
Crude Oil Is Little Changed as U.S. Gulf of Mexico Output Drops
Crude oil was little changed, rebounding from the session's lows, after a government report showed that U.S. oil production fell in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil production was 901,726 barrels below pre-storm levels, almost 5 percent more than reported yesterday, the Minerals Management Service said in a daily report. Prices declined earlier today on an Energy Department report that showed U.S. supplies of crude oil and petroleum products declined less than expected in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
``There are obviously still some problems out in the Gulf,''
Oil Production Down 78 Percent in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. government says oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 80 percent below normal as of Saturday, five days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region.
A report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said Katrina had cut oil production in the Gulf by about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day. It said more than 280 offshore oil-drilling rigs and platforms remained evacuated.
The figures represent a slight improvement from Friday, when oil production in the Gulf was nearly 90 percent below normal.
Katrina's disruption to Gulf-area oil production and refineries
Crude oil rises as Emily hits Mexico Markets expect sharp decline in U.S. oil supplies
Crude-oil futures gained Wednesday as Hurricane Emily crashed into Mexico and disrupted production in the area. Traders also positioned themselves ahead of the latest weekly U.S. supplies data.
August-dated crude oil rose 44 cents to $57.90 a barrel in the electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Hurricane Emily came ashore on the northeastern coast of Mexico, about 80 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, on Wednesday, returning to category three-level strength after earlier weakening to a category one storm.
The hurricane is expected to work
BHP Billiton says Gulf of Mexico production remains shut
Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) said Wednesday that oil production at its Gulf of Mexico rigs is still shut after hurricane Katrina caused devastation in the area.
There is little damage to BHP's facilities, but the disruption at refineries means production will be stopped for much longer than previously thought, a BHP spokeswoman said.
She said the company doesn't know how long.
Last week, BHP said it expected oil production to be shut off for a couple of days, after it evacuated crews and moved its rigs in preparation for the hurricane.
BHP Billiton says most Gulf of Mexico output restored
Anglo-Australian resources group BHP Billiton (BHP) said Thursday that production has restarted at most of its Gulf of Mexico oil wells, which stopped production last week because of Hurricane Katrina.
"All fields are in production except Boris and Mad Dog," a Melbourne-based spokeswoman said.
BHP produces about 25,000 barrels of oil a day in the Gulf, from the Mad Dog, West Cameron, Genesis, Green Canyon, Typhoon and Boris fields.
Teams are working to get the remaining two fields back into production as soon as possible, the spokeswoman said.
The statement was made
N.Hydro drops oilfield in Gulf of Mexico-report
Norwegian energy and metals group Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) has dropped plans to develop the Telemark deep water oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico because of high costs, Oslo-based oil and gas weekly Upstream said on Friday.
Hydro officials were not immediately available for comment.
Upstream said that Hydro's board voted this week not to pursue the development of Telemark because of costs of building a tension-leg platform to recover what the company viewed as marginal reserves.
It said that oil reserve estimates for the field had varied from 40-70 million barrels but Hydro was
UPDATE 2-Risk of Ophelia entering Gulf of Mexico drops
The risk that Tropical Storm Ophelia will enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten the U.S. oil and natural gas rigs over the next several days declined as the storm strengthened off the east coast of Florida.
Of the seven major weather models, two -- the Beta and Advection Model Medium (BAMM) and the National Hurricane Center 98 Statistical-Dynamical model (A98E) -- projected the storm, which could become a hurricane during the next 24 hours, would turn south toward Cuba and the Florida Keys.
Four models, including the NHC model, meanwhile
Risk of Ophelia entering Gulf of Mexico drops
The risk that Tropical Storm Ophelia will enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten the U.S. oil and natural gas rigs over the next several days declined as the storm strengthened off the east coast of Florida.
Of the seven major weather models, two – the Beta and Advection Model Medium (BAMM) and the National Hurricane Center 98 Statistical-Dynamical model (A98E) – projected the storm, which could become a hurricane during the next 24 hours, would turn south toward Cuba and the Florida Keys.
Four models, including the NHC model, meanwhile
Newfield Reports on Resumption of Gulf of Mexico Production Following '05 Storms
Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX - News) today provided a progress report on the resumption of its production in the Gulf of Mexico following 2005 storms and hurricanes. Newfield estimates that the storms will result in the deferral of approximately 22 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of anticipated 2005 production. As a result, Newfield now expects that full-year 2005 production will total approximately 242 Bcfe.
David A. Trice, Newfield Chairman, President and CEO, commented: "Recovery from Hurricane Rita has been much slower than we originally projected with most of the
