Adding

Adding another significant supply component to its proposed 1,350-mile Rockies Express pipeline system, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Sempra Pipelines & Storage signed a new binding memorandum of understanding to lease 1.5 Bcf/d of capacity on Questar Corp.’s Overthrust Pipeline system in Wyoming to fill in the western end of the line. The deal came as FERC granted a request by Rockies Express sponsors to initiate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) pre-filing process for the first segment of the project.

Adding another significant supply component to its proposed 1,350-mile Rockies Express pipeline system, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Sempra Pipelines & Storage signed a new binding memorandum of understanding to lease 1.5 Bcf/d of capacity on Questar Corp.’s Overthrust Pipeline system in Wyoming to fill in the western end of the line. The deal came as FERC granted a request by Rockies Express sponsors to initiate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) pre-filing process for the first segment of the project.

Adding to its range of services, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) on Wednesday rolled out SquawkBox, its latest tool for energy trading. SquawkBox gives all traders equal access to the “roar and sounds” of the light, sweet crude oil and natural gas futures trading rings.

Adding to the reinstated interconnect points on its system, Sabine Pipe Line LLC reported that its force majeure for Meter 1552 — NGPL/Henry Hub (NGPL to Sabine) — was lifted on Wednesday and the company is accepting nominations at that location.

Adding to the growing Western paranoia regarding China’s bold energy plays internationally, the northern Alberta, Canada oil sand deposits are now receiving hundreds of millions of dollars for development from the Chinese government, according to a report in Monday’s Los Angeles Times, citing growing concerns in the Bush Administration, which is monitoring the situation closely.

Public hearings on the C$7 billion Mackenzie Gas Project have been postponed for at least two months, with the sponsors adding they cannot predict how long the delay will turn out to be for Canada’s arctic development. In a letter to the National Energy Board, senior Mackenzie partner Imperial Oil Ltd. said the project will not be ready for hearings that were planned for late summer or early fall.

A tightening squeeze by high fuel prices and a regional surplus of generating capacity is pushing Alberta toward adding electricity to its traditional product lines of natural gas and oil as Canada’s principal energy exporting jurisdiction.

With a little help from the previous day’s futures advance, spreading cold weather was able to keep prices on the rise at nearly all points Wednesday. Only flat numbers at a couple of Rockies points prevented gains across the board. Otherwise, upticks ranged from 2 cents to about 35 cents.

While being bullish about adding major generation assets in its two principal markets in Minnesota and Colorado, Xcel Energy is looking to sell some of its assets in other states where its presence is much smaller, said Xcel COO Dick Kelly, speaking last Wednesday at the Banc of America Securities Energy & Power Conference in Las Vegas.