Breaking News Texas Gets Needed Rain, Increased Loads and Higher Next-Day Prices Breaking News California Regulators Could Examine Utility Executive Pay Breaking News CPUC Approves Billion-Dollar Edison Rate Hike Breaking News Wellinghoff Preaches to Choir in Seeking More Siting Authority Breaking News Cheap Gas Sparks Rethinking of Louisiana Pet Coke Unit Breaking News Xcel Says It's Well Positioned for National RPS Breaking News Would-Be Transmission Developer On Board with Bingaman Bill Breaking News Oregon Regulators to Consider Power Line to Idaho Breaking News CEC Starts Permitting Process on Solar Hybrid, Gas Projects Breaking News California Energy Bill Proposes to Squeeze More Savings Breaking News Puget Sound Energy Continues to Set Gas, Power Records FutureGen Awaits $1B Resuscitation; Restructuring Called 'False' Report: PJM Wholesale Markets Remain Competitive Salazar Turns Interior's Focus Toward Renewables NEPOOL Term Higher as Traders Entertain RFPs Moody's: Carbon Rules Potential Doesn't Threaten Utah Coal Plant SoCal Edison Deflects Rate Case Protests with 'Facts,' CARE Texas Regulators Set Gas-Fired Plant for Air Permit Hearing BPA Warns Wholesale Customers About Revenue Shortfall Santa: Note Natural Gas Act Shortfall in Transmission Siting Idaho Power Seeks Community Input on Cross-State Power Line Idaho Power Files at PUC for 300 MW Plant FERC All-Powerful in Draft Transmission Siting Bill EPA Proposes National Emissions Reports Next-Day Eastern Power Drops Prior to Forecast of Cold, Stormy Weather Legislation Would Halt Texas Nodal Effort, Change Cap on Generation EIA Sees Gas Grabbing Bigger Share of Generation Market Panel: Renewables Could Drain Nation's Water Supply DOE-Utility Task Force Aims to Keep Smart Grids Cyber Safe Black Hills Gets Green Light on Two Colorado Plants New Mexico Skeptical of PNM Rate Settlement Consumer Group Protests Edison Rate Hike NV Energy Asks PUC to Permit $470M Power Line Link Kelliher to Resign from FERC at End of Week Next-Day ERCOT Power Rises; Midwest Hubs See Triple Digits Retail Price Impacts of MRTU Unknown, CAISO Says ATC Power Line Firm Reports on Interstate Project Kentucky Approves Big Rivers, E.ON 'Unwinding' WAPA Flexes Expanded Borrowing Authority Alaska Senator Cautions Against Merging Energy, Cap-and-Trade PNM Power Utility Reaches Rate Settlement in New Mexico Santee Cooper, Partners Measuring Offshore Wind Potential

Spectra Launches Open Season for Another East Texas/Haynesville Pipe
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 4:48 PM
Spectra Energy Corp. late Thursday joined a growing list of pipeline operators that in recent weeks have announced plans to expand their systems to accommodate growing natural gas supplies from East Texas and northern Louisiana.( more )

Futures Rise Following 'Bullish' 112 Bcf Storage Draw
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 4:35 PM
Natural gas futures bulls received some unexpected support on Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a larger-than-expected 112 Bcf was withdrawn from underground storage for the week ending March 6. With the bullish storage draw and a significant burst of supportive strength coming from the crude futures arena, April natural gas futures broke back above $4 in afternoon trading before closing the day's regular session at $3.995, up 19.7 cents from Wednesday's finish.( more )

Double Eagle Considering Joint Ventures, Low-Risk Projects
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 3:50 PM
Denver-based natural gas producer Double Eagle Petroleum has no intentions to drill new wells this year in the Catalina Unit of Wyoming, long one of the company's prized leaseholds. Instead, the junior independent will focus on lower risk nonoperated projects and review some offers to set up joint ventures, the CEO said Thursday.( more )

California Utility Executive Pay Could Get Scrutiny
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 3:36 PM
California chief utility regulator Michael Peevey signaled Thursday that he will attempt to have the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) investigate the status of executive compensation at the state's major private-sector utilities, which are all among the nation's largest.( more )

Horn River Producers Step Up for Fort Nelson Capacity
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 2:47 PM
Seven Horn River Basin producers have committed to 760 MMcf/d of gathering and processing capacity on an expansion of Spectra Energy Corp. facilities in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, the company said Thursday. The expansion could accommodate up to 830 MMcf/d of incremental gas from the burgeoning Horn River.( more )

Court Not Swayed in Bill Barrett's Case Against Coal Explorer
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 1:25 PM
Bill Barrett Corp. (BBC) has failed to convince a U.S. district court that BTU Western Resources Inc.'s coal exploration, which is to be conducted adjacent to the producer's coalbed methane (CBM) operations in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, would cause irreparable harm.( more )

Enterprise Turns on Second Phase at Meeker Processing Complex
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 12:28 PM
The Meeker II gas processing plant in Colorado's Piceance Basin has begun operations, doubling the capacity at the Meeker complex to 1.5 Bcf/d with the capability to extract up to 70,000 b/d of natural gas liquids (NGL), Enterprise Products Partners LP said Thursday. The partnership also began operations at its recently expanded Shilling and Thompsonville processing plants in South Texas and expects its relocated Chaparral facility in the Permian Basin to begin processing gas later in March.( more )

API: Keep Interior's Eyes on Natural Gas Prize
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 12:27 PM
The U.S. Department of Interior's (DOI) decision to establish renewable energy zones should be applied to natural gas and oil resources as well, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).( more )

California Bill Seeks Savings from Older Buildings
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 8:31 AM
Proposed California legislation (AB 758) would allow the California Energy Commission (CEC) to squeeze more energy efficiency out of buildings constructed decades ago prior to the energy consciousness that prevails today. The legislation was introduced Wednesday jointly by the chair of the state lower Assembly's resources committee, Nancy Skinner, and current Assembly speaker Karen Bass. ( more )

Puget Sound Energy Sets Demand Records
Breaking News from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  posted Mar 12, 8:31 AM
Although the official start of spring is less than two weeks away, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) said Wednesday it has set new one-day sendout records for natural gas and electricity in March. The Puget Energy utility said a beneficial side effect is that the added gas demand from customers is giving the utility a chance to fill up its storage reservoir with more low-priced supplies that are now available.( more )

Nearly All Points Up on New Heating Load Gains
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
Prices continued to rise at nearly all points Wednesday as the South began contributing some heating load of its own to what already existed from the Northeast through the Rockies. Temperatures were due to keep falling Thursday in the Northeast and sections of the Midwest, but some moderation was forecast for the Rockies.( more )

Futures Inch Lower; Summer LNG Impact Debated
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
While April natural gas futures on Wednesday continued their recent trend of shaving a few pennies a day, the real fireworks could be found in neighboring crude futures, which saw the April contract fall $3.38 to close at $42.33/bbl, just two sessions after trading as high as $48.83/bbl. April natural gas closed Wednesday at $3.798, down 4.2 cents from Tuesday.( more )

ConocoPhillips Quietly Acquiring North American Gas Prospects
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
ConocoPhillips avoided the "feeding frenzies" that followed the hyped natural gas and oil discoveries in North America, but that doesn't mean the company hasn't been surreptitiously piecing together acreage in emerging tight gas and oil shale plays across the continent, COO John Carrig said Wednesday. ( more )

Santa: Electric Transmission Talk Could Bring Focus to Gas Act Failing
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
Natural gas pipeline interests have an opportunity to speak up during the current discussion of expanding FERC authority for siting interstate electric transmission, according to Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) President Donald Santa. While the Natural Gas Act is seen as a potential model for electric transmission policy, pipelines should point out where it doesn't work, Santa told a Houston audience Wednesday.( more )

Interior's Focus Turns from Gas and Oil to Renewables
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday issued a secretarial order making the production, development and delivery of renewable energy top priorities for DOI.( more )

Barclays: 'Rapid Declines' in Barnett Shale Taking Hold
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
The current number of well completions, active rigs and aggregate decline rates in the Barnett Shale of Texas are inexact at this point, but all signs point to "rapid declines taking hold soon," according to a review of the play by Barclays Capital energy analysts.( more )

Omnibus Lands Bill Falls Short in House
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
House Democrats suffered a major defeat Wednesday as they failed to garner a two-thirds majority needed to pass a $10 billion omnibus lands package (S. 22) that would take millions of acres of public lands in the West off the table for potential oil and natural gas development. ( more )

AT&T to Spend Up to $565M to Switch Vehicle Fleet to CNG, Alternative Fuels
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
AT&T will invest up to $565 million in an effort to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years, the company said Wednesday. The giant communications holding company said it expects to spend an estimated $350 million to purchase about 8,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles and approximately $215 million to begin replacing its passenger cars with alternative-fuel models.( more )

Columbia Gulf Offers Open Capacity to FGT System
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
Columbia Gulf Transmission is holding an open season through Wednesday (March 18) for 105,000 Dth of open capacity to be delivered to Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) near Lafayette, LA. The capacity would be available beginning April 1, Columbia Gulf said.( more )

AGA Favors Pass-Through of Discounted Charges to AMAs, Marketers
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 12, 2009
A major natural gas utility group Wednesday called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to require interstate pipelines to permit the pass-through of discounted or negotiated usage and fuel charges to both asset managers and retail-choice marketers.( more )

Anadarko Turns Focus to Low-Risk Shale, GOM Deepwater
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
With the "right kind of prices, the right kind of drilling," natural gas shale could be the "long-dated fuel" for North America, Anadarko Petroleum CEO Jim Hackett said Tuesday. "But people shouldn't get stars in their eyes without gas prices getting back pretty high," he said at the company's annual investor conference.( more )

Chevron Spends for the Long Term, Readies Deepwater Start-Ups
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O'Reilly on Tuesday said the company can't commit to a long-term 3% increase in its worldwide natural gas and oil production because of the "uncertain point in the global economy," but 2009 output should jump 4% from 2008 levels because of the slate of new projects nearing completion.( more )

EPA Seeks National Greenhouse Gas Data
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
Approximately 13,000 facilities, including a wide range of energy industry facilities, would be affected by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to require the nation's major producers of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG) to quantify and report their emissions, the EPA said Tuesday.( more )

Goldman: King Coal to Pay for Gas Overabundance
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
Natural gas producers won't be the only ones feeling pain from the world's bloated gas supply and anemic recession-driven demand outlook. North American coal producers are poised for a hit as the gas market rebalances on the back of fuel switching from coal to gas for power generation, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts wrote in a recent report.( more )

EIA Forecasts Stark Year for Gas Prices, Production and Demand
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
The Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest Short-Term Outlook says natural gas prices, production and consumption in the United States are expected to continue on a downward trend.( more )

Official Seeks Ban on Drilling in New York Portion of Marcellus Shale
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
A New York official, joined by several environmental groups, is calling for a ban on natural gas drilling in the state's section of the prolific Marcellus Shale to protect its watershed from potential contamination.( more )

PA Lawmaker Seeks to Tax Producers to Bail Out State's Budgets
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
Looking to shore up county, municipal and school district budgets without raising taxes on residents, Pennsylvania House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County) is turning to Marcellus Shale oil and natural gas producers to foot the bill. He has introduced legislation that would allow counties to assess value to natural gas, oil and coalbed methane resources before they are produced and tax the producers. ( more )

Bingaman Bill: FERC to Take Over All Major Power Line Siting
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
A Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff draft bill would revolutionize the siting of new power transmission lines in the United States, with regional planning entities designated by FERC submitting plans for the Commission's approval. FERC would have siting and fast-track certificate authority for any high-priority transmission project of 345 kV or higher. Any delays could be appealed to the president.( more )

To Hedge or Not? Still Germane California Question
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 11, 2009
The supply and distribution segments of the natural gas industry butted heads Tuesday during a California Energy Commission (CEC) workshop examining how gas is bought by utilities and large noncore purchasers. From the utilities' point of view, the state-sanctioned incentive mechanism and month-to-month purchases are resulting in generally low prices for retail consumers.( more )

Appeals Court Vacates Own Order that Denied Alaska Drilling
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
In an unusual turn of events, the federal appeals court that last year stopped Shell Oil Co. subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc. (SOI) from drilling offshore Alaska has vacated and withdrawn its decision.( more )

FBR: Shale Gas a Priority, but U.S. Spending to Fall through 2010
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
The huge capital expenditures (capex) by the U.S. energy sector in 2008 are unlikely to be seen again "for many years," FBR Capital Markets analysts said Monday. Shale natural gas now is a priority, but total domestic spending has to fall through 2010 to balance the market, FBR analysts said.( more )

Kelliher Departure Clears Way for Obama to Name Dem Successor
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
FERC Commissioner and former Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said Monday he will resign from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the end of the week, opening the door for President Obama to bring in his own candidate for commissioner and possibly the next chairman of the five-member agency. ( more )

ICE Announces Start-Up of CDS Clearing Operation
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), a leading operator of global futures exchanges, announced that ICE US Trust LLC, a New York limited liability trust company, began processing and clearing credit default swap (CDS) index transactions Monday.( more )

Alaska Senator Opposes Merging Energy, Cap-and-Trade Legislation
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Friday signaled that she would oppose any attempt by the Democratic leadership to possibly merge energy legislation and a cap-and-trade bill on the Senate floor this year.( more )

Louisiana Producer Group Protests Obama Tax Hike Plans
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
The Louisiana Oil & Gas Association (LOGA) has called on a House lawmaker representing the state to "work to defeat or amend" President Obama's fiscal year 2010 budget that proposes a $30 billion-plus tax hike on oil and natural gas producers.( more )

FERC Upholds Gas Quality, Interchangeability Policy Statement
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  March 10, 2009
FERC Friday upheld a June 2006 order approving a policy statement that took a pipeline-by-pipeline approach to the complex issues of natural gas quality and interchangeability (see Daily GPI, June 16, 2006).( more )