By Duncan Sutherland - Exclusive to Gas Investing News
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Market News:

It seems as if natural gas futures have hit a band of support in the $7.25-$7.50 range, which is good news for investors as winter approaches. Structural factors suggest that natural gas will become dearer in winter, especially if the current low prices have a significant effect on high-cost or marginal production. This seems to be the rationale for the rise in the week's trading to date.

Though Goldman Sachs has lowered its winter NYMEX ^[2] forecasts from $9.50 down to $7.60, that lower estimate may yet be revised as big players curtail operations.

Company News:

Chesapeake Energy, (NYSE:CHK) ^[3] which has already cut back its exploration spending drastically, is now also shelving its plans to have a web presence to explain Barnett Shale drilling to Texans near its projects. Though the website, Shale.tv sounded like an innovative way to offer information, markets like this one are not kind to unproven ideas and less than obvious value-adders.

Hydrocarbon companies in Pennsylvania under the aegises of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association and the Independent Oil & Gas Association of Pennsylvania formed a joint Marcellus Shale Committee ^[4] to lobby the state and sub-state governments as well as represent companies with an interest in the exploration and exploitation of this formation.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has sent a delegation ^[5] of executives to Anchorage, Alaska to discuss whether it could help the state transport gas to the lower 48. It is as yet unclear whether there will be any common ground for future discussions, but Gazprom still has interests in North American sources and markets.

Peterbilt Motors ^[6], a subsidiary of PACCAR inc (NASDAQ:PCAR) and Westport Innovations (TSX:WPT) have announced the creation of three different LNG engine configurations for its transport trucks. Last week South Parse looked at ^[7] a number of news items concerning natural gas-powered engines, so Peterbilt is following a growing trend that appears to be approaching critical mass.

International News:

Russia's StroyTrans Gaz and state-owned Syrian Gas Company ^[8] have come to a $71 million transportation deal. The terms will see Story Trans help finance a pipeline from Aleppo to the Turkish border where it could link up with pre-existing gas infrastructure routes to Europe. There is also a strong political component to the deal, as Syria and Russia are both skeptical of the United States' position on Iranian nuclear enrichment and American policy in the region as a whole. Indeed, Bashar al-Asad's government has the distinction of being one of the few Arab dictators not receiving political, military or financial help from America.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates' Crescent Petroleum have come to a curious agreement over Iranian exports from the Salman field through the sub-gulf pipeline. The $2 billion, 25 year contract ^[9] is roughly four times more expensive than Crescent's current Qatari supplies. Though there is certainly a benefit to locking in long-term supply deals, one must question whether that benefit is so large. Intriguing.