Algonquin

Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC has secured necessary water quality permits from New York state for its Atlantic Bridge expansion, an important step for the project given the state has used its authority to stall two major pipeline projects in the past year.

Most natural gas traders laid low Thursday and got their deals done ahead of the release of often volatility-inducing inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). It was a mixed market with gains in the Northeast and Appalachia unable to offset broader losses in the Midwest, Midcontinent, Rockies, and California.

Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are calling on FERC to rescind its authorization last week for Spectra Energy affiliates Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC to construct and operate the Atlantic Bridge Project.

FERC granted Spectra Energy affiliates Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC authorization Wednesday to construct and operate the Atlantic Bridge Project.

Algonquin Gas Transmission placed into service on Jan. 7 the remaining facilities of its 342,000 Dth/d Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project, which transports natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shales from Ramapo, NY, to citygates in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

New England should have enough electricity to meet consumer demand this winter, ISO New England Inc. (ISONE) said Monday, but the grid operator pointed to a growing need to expand the region’s natural gas infrastructure.

In separate orders, FERC has given Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC permission to enter part of its Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project into service, and for the company to increase some of its initial rates in order to recoup higher-than-expected construction costs.

Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC told FERC that it erred when it tried to extract a broken drill stem from under the Hudson River last month during work on the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project. The company pledged to comply with all of the agency’s future directives for the project.

The Aug. 17 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling that invalidated contracts on the Access Northeast pipeline expansion has set off a new round of debate as the project’s backers vie for FERC approval of a crucial tariff revision.