2004

A conservation group claims in a new study that treating coalbed methane (CBM) wastewater through reinjection and injection is “practical and affordable,” and could lead to “more responsible” development practices in the Powder River Basin. The study was commissioned by the Northern Plains Resource Council, based in Billings, MT.

The federal government has leased 229 million acres of public and private land to producers in 12 western states for oil and natural gas drilling since 1982, an area greater than the combined size of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, according to a study released Tuesday by a Washington, DC-based environmental group. But only a fraction of the land (13%) ever produced oil or natural gas.

FERC has entered into a protective order with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California to obtain access to approximately 161 audiotapes of telephone conversations between Enron Corp. energy traders and other parties.

A large number of companies want to bring a lot of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to North America over the next few years. However, the reality is not a lot of projects will make it past the drawing board, and world LNG supplies are limited and in demand by other countries. Nevertheless, since its rebirth in the past few years, LNG is now being touted as the “next” energy commodity, the saviour for North America’s dwindling natural gas supplies and growing demand, and companies both large and small are getting in on the act.

Breaking a five-session series of lower-lows and lower-highs, the natural gas futures market turned tentatively higher Wednesday as continued and steady end-user buying was enough to meet fund and commercial selling. Modest gains were seen throughout the six-year strip at Nymex and the September contract eked out a 0.9-cent advance to close Wednesday at $5.382.

Members of the Passamaquoddy Native American tribe, having lost out in an earlier bid to open a gambling casino, voted in favor of locating an LNG import terminal on their Sipayik Reservation on Passamaquoddy Bay on the northern Maine coast. The vote was 193 to 132, in what Tribal Representative (to the state legislature) Fred Moore III said was the highest turnout ever for a special election.

Declining availability of hydroelectric generation in the West and the larger than normal discount for natural gas compared to Gulf Coast distillate fuel, propane and NGLs will contribute to the narrowing of the storage surplus in the weeks before the Nov. 1 start of the winter season, according to analyst Stephen Smith. Nevertheless, Smith is predicting storage stocks on that date (sans hurricane interruptions) will total about 3,200 Bcf, above the 3,030 Bcf average for Nov. 1 over the last 10 years.

National Fuel Gas Co. is moving forward on a proposed 83-mile extension of its Empire State Pipeline in New York, which would be the upstream portion of Millennium Pipeline’s proposed Phase I system. Both Millennium and National Fuel said they could file their pipeline plans with FERC before the end of the year or in early 2005.

National Fuel Gas Co. is moving forward on a proposed 83-mile extension of its Empire State Pipeline in New York, which would be the upstream portion of Millennium Pipeline’s proposed Phase I system. Both Millennium and National Fuel said they could file their pipeline plans with FERC before the end of the year or in early 2005.