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A demonstration project by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Houston-based Pinnacle Technologies has led to the creation of an advanced mapping system for hydraulic fracturing that may help optimize production from unconventional gas reserves.

FERC last Thursday issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) that seeks to make several reforms to improve the operations of the organized wholesale power markets, as well as requests public comment on the proposals.

The cash market advanced on all fronts Thursday, driven by gradually rising heat levels in several areas (not the Northeast, where a cold front was due to keep the region cool) and by support from a futures increase of 8.3 cents the day before.

Backers of the state’s most advanced proposal to build an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal stormed into a California State Lands Commission hearing in Oxnard, CA, Monday, touting 18 potential large buyers of its supplies along with nearly 100 groups supporting its Cabrillo Port Project, 14 miles offshore Southern California between Malibu and Oxnard in Ventura County.

In an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published Friday in the Federal Register, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it is beginning to develop a regulatory program to implement “Alternate Energy-Related Uses on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).” Among other things, the new program would provide access to the OCS to balance competing and complementary uses of offshore acreage and take into “account the evolving nature of the energy industry.”

NRG Energy is in advanced talks to buy Texas Genco Holdings Inc. in a transaction that is expected to be valued at $5 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Shares of NRG rose 3.66% on the news, finishing Wednesday’s trading session up $1.52 to $43.05.

The most advanced of several proposals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the state — at least from a federal perspective — Northern Star Natural Gas’s proposed $520 million LNG receiving terminal a Bradwood, OR, 37 miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Coast, will be the subject of a federal hearing in the local Oregon community this Thursday. As it has in similar hearings elsewhere along both the East and West Coasts, safety is expected to be a major topic of discussion.

A few points, nearly all in the West, were flat to up as much as about a quarter Monday, but only one advanced more than a dime. There was a solid retreat across the rest of the market, with losses ranging from less than a nickel to a quarter or so. The Northeast recorded most of the declines of 20 cents or more.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the panel has already begun to consider the five energy proposals advanced by President Bush on Wednesday, as well as some novel initiatives.