California carbon prices nudged slightly higher this week though volume fell sharply from last week’s high for the year.

Front-year Dec-15 CCAs remained rangebound, settling at $12.72 on ICE on Thursday, up 2 cents for the week. August deliveries for that contract added 3 cents to settle at $12.64.

Traders this week put most of their attention on V2018, which on Tuesday registered a 7-cent gain on volume of more than 4.3 million tonnes. But even with that boost, Dec-15 deliveries gained just a fraction of a percent from the previous week’s close, settling at $12.43.

Brokers speculated that spread trading accounted for much of the recent V2018 activity, with some market participants continuing to reorder positions around that contract.

They pointed out the biggest compliance entities remain well-supplied by WCI’s joint California-Quebec quarterly auctions, the next of which occurs Aug. 18. Final bid guarantees from participants in the auction were due to be submitted Thursday.

EARLY ACTION BACKLOG SWELLS

California’s Air Resource Board (ARB) this week added two new projects to its early action offsets project list, the first step towards approving any associated offsets for use under the state’s cap-and-trade program.

The larger of the two is Keyrock Energy’s Corinth Abandoned Mine Methane Recovery Project in southern Illinois, which is seeking 122,285 offsets for emission cuts over 2010-2012.

Also listed was Environmental Credit Corporation’s Sunnyside Farms livestock project in New York state, seeking 34,436 offsets for reductions over 2012-2014.

Three livestock projects already appearing on the early action list are seeking an additional 95,007 credits for 2014 reductions.

The new listings compound ARB’s existing backlog of nearly 12 million early action offsets, which the agency is aiming to process ahead of an August 2016 deadline. Developers have until the end of this month to submit early action projects.

By Robert Mullin – news@carbon-pulse.com