Natural Gas Prices Slide To 3-Week Low; New Yorkers Won't See Benefit -- September 26, 2019

Link here.

Meanwhile:

Natural gas prices slide 3% to a three-week low. Link here.

Natural-gas prices fell Thursday after government data showed U.S. stockpiles rose more than analysts expected.

Front-month natural-gas futures declined 3% to $2.428 per million British thermal units, a three-week low, after the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, reported that natural-gas inventories last week surged by 102 billion cubic feet, compared with the 89 billion cubic feet that analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted.

“We had thought the number would be smaller because a lot of the country has been experiencing unusual, late-season heat,” said Kent Bayazitoglu, director of market analytics at Gelber & Associates. Natural-gas demand tends to rise when more people use their air conditioners in the summer and heaters in the winter.

By the way, when one reads the articles very, very closely regarding the situation in New York City / New Jersey, one gets the feeling there is much more to this story than simply a bunch of rabble-rousers who are trying to stop expansion of a pipeline where there are already many pipelines. Something tells me there's a bit of "something else" going on. Whenever my granddaughters ask me something they don't understand, I tell them to google it or follow the money. In this case (the NYC/New Jersey natural gas pipeline story) I suggest following the money.

New Jersey Denies The Pipeline That NYC Denied Earlier -- June 6, 2019

For the backstory, see this post from yesterday. The multiple New York City, New York state, and New Jersey pipeline stories are being tracked here.

New Jersey denies key permits for Williams' NESE natural gas project. Link here.

New Jersey regulators have rejected key wetlands, water quality and land use approvals for Williams' Northeast Supply Enhancement project, in another blow to the pipeline expansion that would bring 400 MMcf/d of incremental natural gas supply into New York markets.

The project only three weeks earlier was denied a water quality certificate by New York state regulators, though Williams has expressed optimism it could answer New York's "technical concern" and meet its in-service target.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in a decision released late Wednesday, found that Williams' Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line had not fully shown how it could avoid or minimize adverse impacts to surface water quality caused by dredging to build a segment of the pipeline that would run through New Jersey waters of the Raritan Bay. The decision was without prejudice to Transco submitting future modeling analysis to demonstrate that mitigation.

The state regulators also found Transco had not shown there were no alternatives that ease impacts of a proposed compressor station to freshwater wetlands and riparian areas, and had not shown a compelling need warranting the compressor station as presently proposed.

New Jersey portions of the project include a 32,000 horsepower compressor station in Franklin Township, the 5.96-miles Madison Loop, and the roughly 6-mile Raritan Loop in New Jersey waters.

The decisions are without prejudice, giving Transco an opportunity to reapply.

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Pipeline Under The Sea Not To Be

Back to the Future

The Fallout Begins -- New York Denies A Pipeline Permit -- The Morning After -- May 16, 2019

Updates

June 6, 2019: New Jersey regulators deny key permits for the New Jersey-to-New-York-Under-The-Hudson pipeline.

June 5, 2019: New Jersey regulators to decide on several permits for same pipeline.

June 3, 2019: another pipeline at risk. New York state to become a "no-growth" state.

May 22, 2019: Con Edison follows suit; limits new service.

May 20, 2019: moratorium back on. New natural gas hook-ups in NYC/Long Island on hold. Second moratorium in 2019.

May 16, 2019: even oilprice weighs in on this decision. 

Original Post 

This story will now be followed here. New tag: Pipeline_Expansion_NY.

This will likely be the most interesting energy story affecting New York City this year.

For background, see this post.

Today, a google search:

New York Denies Pipeline -- May 15, 2019 -- Most Interesting Story Coming Out Of The Northeast This Year

Updates

May 16, 2019: this story will now be tracked at this post.

Original Post

 
Link here: story broke 37 minutes ago ....

My hunch: moratorium on new hook-ups for Westchester County, NYC, Long Island -- I give the regulators two months to sort this out. This is no longer about natural gas or the environment. It's about a) elitism; b) anarchy; c) no-growth [Occasional-Cortex can explain].

Huge thanks again to a reader for bringing this to my attention.

This may be the most interesting energy story coming out of the northeast this year.

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Backstory

This was the backstory, posted yesterday:

Deadline: tomorrow, May 15, 2019 -- a reader brought this to my attention -- one of many links here:

• New England, NYC, Long Island
• National Grid needs access to more natural gas if growth is to continue
• access to more natural gas hinges on permits for pipelines
• National Grid says it will put the moratorium on hookups back in place if the new pipeline permits are not approved
• affects Westchester County, NYC, Long Island
• directly from the article: the problem stems from three things: 
• significant growth in natural-gas demand created by the current development boom,
• increased demand from existing buildings converting to gas from dirtier energy sources such as heating oil, and 
• more extreme heating needs as climate change brings more extremely cold winter days. 
• no new pipeline has been approved since 2013
• at the link, the writer proposes the equivalent of President Carter's solution: wear sweaters in the winter

Actually it sounds like -- according to the article -- even without any growth, the National Grid natural gas supply is already stretched to its limits during the winter.

My hunch: they will find a way to thread the needle.

Likely solution: "forbid" National Grid from any moratorium on hookups but approve no new pipeline permit, waiting to see what this next winter brings. Seems crazy but kicking the can down the road has worked since 2013. If nothing else, the "May 15th" deadline will be extended, as the"parties remain talking."

Note the third point made by a "global warming" proponent: part of the current problem is due to "more heating needs as climate change brings more extremely cold winter days."