Absent

Conspicuously absent from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget reconciliation package that was released Friday is language that would expand oil and natural gas exploration and production in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Given an anticipated growth rate of 1.4% annually, the U.S.-Canadian natural gas market could experience a natural gas supply shortfall of about 6 Bcf/d in 2010 and up to 19 Bcf/d by 2020 absent significant contributions by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), said an official with ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing Friday.

Given an anticipated growth rate of 1.4% annually, the U.S.-Canadian natural gas market could experience a natural gas supply shortfall of about 6 Bcf/d in 2010 and up to 19 Bcf/d by 2020 absent significant contributions by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), an official with ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing said Friday at NGI’s 19th annual GasMart conference in New Orleans.

Absent the usual pomp, President Bush on Friday signed into law a $136 billion corporate tax cut bill that provides a host of tax incentives and credits for natural gas, electricity, renewable energy and other fuels.

Absent the usual pomp, President Bush on Friday signed into law a $136 billion corporate tax cut bill that provides a host of tax incentives and credits for natural gas, electricity, renewable energy and other fuels.

Absent the usual pomp, President Bush on Friday signed into law a $136 billion corporate tax cut bill that provides a host of tax incentives and credits for natural gas, electricity, renewable energy and other fuels.

The California state legislature’s chief advocate for a return to tightly regulated energy utilities absent retail customer choice programs told a legislative committee session Wednesday that natural gas could prove the next serious energy problem for the nation’s most populous state — perhaps as early as this fall or the coming winter. Increasing reliance on gas derivatives is at the heart of the problem, according to the legislator.

President Bush said Thursday the “energy bill’s an important issue,” but it was noticeably absent from his short list of legislative priorities for the new Republican-controlled Congress to tackle in the upcoming lame-duck session or early next year.

Demonstrating a newfound consensus often absent over the past 12-15 months, California’s regulatory commission last week unanimously approved a half-dozen energy items on its regular business meeting agenda, including added debt authority for Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. and a new statewide hearing process looking at the potential rate impact of the two alternative reorganization plans in Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.