Along

Due to the current interdependency of the U.S. economy, an attack at a key point along a pipeline could actually disrupt communications, information technology and power as well as the petroleum and natural gas supplies that run through the pipes, according to Bobby R. Gillham, manager of global security for Conoco Inc. Environmental concerns over the past 20 years have forced interstate pipelines to not only carry natural gas and liquid petroleum products, but also fiber optic cable for communications, and power lines are run in the same rights of way, he said.

End-of-the-year assessments of California’s roller-coaster ride along energy restructuring point to a lack of consensus among the state’s leaders and industry stakeholders about what the state’s future framework for electricity in particular should look like. A report over the holiday week in the Los Angeles Times reported a split between the state’s top regulator and state legislator over who should take the next steps in shaping the state’s energy markets.

Producers’ economic decisions to shut down gas processing plants all along the Gulf Coast last year, leaving liquids in the gas stream, has led pipelines to place restrictions on the quality of the gas entering pipelines in order to protect their operations, the Interstate Natural Gas Assoc. of America (INGAA) said in a letter to FERC Chairman Pat Wood.

Buoyed by double-digit gains in the cash market, along with the release of another in a string of bullish long-range weather outlooks, natural gas futures erupted higher Tuesday, as traders pressured the market to new four-week highs. The November contract gapped a dime above Monday’s high, and never looked back yesterday, finishing with an impressive 21.4-cent advance and $2.592 closing price. Trading volume was high, with an estimated 90,649 contracts changing hands.

The October aftermarket was dividing along geographical lines as it began Friday. Eastern points fell off sharply from both first-of-month indexes and end-of-September levels. However, except for mild Permian/Waha softness, the West was realizing gains in both of the aforementioned cases. Sources attributed the relative western firmness largely to the region’s having a near-monopoly on any hot weather remaining in the U.S.

Natural gas prices for Columbia Gas of Ohio’s customers are expected to drop along with the temperatures, the company said Thursday. Beginning in November and through January billings, Columbia will reduce its gas cost to 48 cents per 100 cubic feet — a drop of 20% over last year.

Continuing along its chosen path of focusing on its wholesale and energy risk management businesses, Kansas City, MO-based Aquila Inc. said on Monday that it has sold the retail energy manager services business of UtiliCorp Energy Solutions to Energy Management Resources Inc., a nationwide provider of energy supply management services to commercial and industrial customers throughout the United States.

Grid operators along much of the East Coast last week went into a heightened state of alert after terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center (WTC), the Pentagon and other sites. Several grid operators indicated that they would take their cue from government authorities as to when they will ease their heightened state of alert.

In a part of California known for big oil and big agricultural interests, and the big bucks that go along with both, deep drilling is getting a huge boost in the southwestern parts of oil/gas-rich San Joaquin Valley west and northwest of Bakersfield with the announcement that a consortium of major E&P talent became the third group to begin a deep drilling project in the area.