Ellen Beswick

It wouldn’t be a stretch for the United States to ramp up production to serve a 10 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market by 2020, but whether the prospective exports would cause higher domestic natural gas prices could hinge on whether those exports are tied to Henry Hub gas or to or higher Brent crude equivalents, according to Patrick Rau, Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) director of strategy and research.

Natural gas production is increasing while natural gas trading activity is declining, according to recent reports from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The U.S. Senate Tuesday confirmed the administration’s appointment of Timothy Massad as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and filled vacancies on the panel with two new nominees.

An ongoing battle between American Midstream (Midla) Partners and its customers, including Atmos Energy Corp., over Midla’s petition to abandon its 88-year-old jurisdictional natural gas pipeline will be the subject of meetings May 29 and 30 conducted by FERC’s director of the Dispute Resolution Division (DRD).

The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) issued an emergency order Wednesday advising against the use of older, more vulnerable railroad tank cars for shipment of Bakken Shale crude, and requiring railroads operating trains carrying large amounts of Bakken oil to notify State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs) when the trains are moving through their states.

FERC on Thursday reinforced its decision of last fall to allow Trunkline Gas Co. to convert a looped portion of its 770-mile natural gas line from the Gulf of Mexico to Michigan to use as an oil pipeline, saying the remaining loops were adequate to handle its firm gas service (see Daily GPI, Nov. 8, 2013).

While the number of U.S. jobs has yet to regain pre-recession levels, the oil and natural gas sector has seen a 40% increase in jobs from 2008, with one million Americans now working directly in the industry, and a total of 10 million associated jobs, according to a recent report by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

With certain mitigation measures, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s Rockaway Delivery Lateral and Northeast Connector Projects can deliver gas to Brooklyn and Queens, NY, without harming the environment, according to a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) prepared by Commission staff [CP13-36-000 & CP13-132-000].

Gavilon LLC and Tenaska Marketing Ventures, jointly are seeking waivers from FERC to allow completion of a deal selling Gavilon’s wholesale gas marketing business, including transportation and storage contracts, to Tenaska.