In what appear to be test cases, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued two orders to determine whether published natural gas price indexes that are cited by interstate natural gas pipelines in their tariffs are in compliance with the agency’s new mandated standards for price reporting and reflect sufficient liquidity at referenced pipeline locations.
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Industrial Customers See Good, Bad News to Gas Inventory Build
Nine consecutive weeks of sizable, if not record, builds to natural gas storage inventories appear to be lessening some of the concerns about supply levels for next winter, but major industrial gas customers aren’t feeling any easier.
New Cash, Futures Price Records Signal Market in Distress
The jolting daily cash price increases, record Gulf Coast and Midcontinent prices and new gas futures highs last week probably gave some market monitors heart palpitations and raised the ire of industry critics, but so far the blame for the events has been placed on a long series of fundamental factors triggered by Mother Nature.
E&Ps Appear to Be Spending More, Finding Less
Decreases in production guidance, combined with modest increases in 2002 capital spending, imply that oil and gas companies “are spending more money with [fewer] results,” according to the latest Lehman Brothers Oil & Gas report on large-cap exploration and production (E&P) companies. In the near term, analysts believe that rising natural gas prices will lead to a rally in E&P shares. In the longer term, however, economic implications of falling production per share are “troubling.”
North American 3Q Gas Production Estimated to be Down 4.6% Over 3Q01
North American natural gas volumes appear to have fallen 1.4% sequentially and 4.6% over levels for the same period a year ago, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Thomas R. Driscoll. Using final production numbers from 43 Lower 48 and 14 Canadian producers, Driscoll estimated that U.S. production for 2002 will be down 5%-6% over a year ago, while Canada will have a 2.5% drop in production from 2001 levels.
North American 3Q Gas Production Estimated to be Down 4.6% Over 3Q01
North American natural gas volumes appear to have fallen 1.4% sequentially and 4.6% over levels for the same period a year ago, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Thomas R. Driscoll. Using final production numbers from 43 Lower 48 states and 14 Canadian producers, Driscoll estimated that U.S. production for 2002 will be down 5%-6% over a year ago, while Canada will have a 2.5% drop in production from 2001 levels.
California Regulators Urge FERC to Nix Negotiated Rates
Unlike pipes and shippers who appear to favor continuing negotiated rates, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) called on FERC this week to halt the negotiated-rate program for pipelines, claiming it has turned jurisdictional pipes into profit-takers and has resulted in abuses that were unforeseen by the Commission when it instituted the practice six years ago.
FERC: Transwestern, Northern Natural Loans to Enron Appear ‘Imprudent’
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Thursday called into question the propriety of two emergency loans totalling $1 billion that were secured by two Enron Corp. pipeline subsidiaries at the time — Northern Natural Gas Co. and Transwestern Pipeline — to help bail out the troubled parent company just weeks before it filed for bankruptcy last December.
FERC: Transwestern, Northern Natural Loans to Enron Appear ‘Imprudent’
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Thursday called into question the propriety of two emergency loans totalling $1 billion that were secured by two Enron Corp. pipeline subsidiaries at the time — Northern Natural Gas Co. and Transwestern Pipeline — to help bail out the troubled parent company just weeks before it filed for bankruptcy last December.
Cut to the Quick: Dynegy’s Stock Value at 51 Cents
The energy marketplace, investors and credit analysts appear to have little faith in Dynegy Inc.’s ability to turn its deteriorating financial picture around, because Thursday the three credit ratings agencies carved another slice from Dynegy Inc. and its affiliates’ ratings. Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, in concert with Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, noted that the energy marketer’s liquidity is quickly disappearing and its ability to bring in cash is weakening.