Argue

California’s recently streamlined oil/gas drilling permits process has been achieved after warnings about the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) were stifled and two top state officials were fired by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to a front-page report in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times.

Both supporters and critics of natural gas development often point to Pennsylvania and New York as two different approaches to regulating shale, but that difference may have been more of an inevitability than a choice, according to a panel of experts speaking in Pittsburgh Wednesday.

The natural gas-directed rig count has fallen by about 100 rigs from last summer’s peak, but further reductions are necessary if the market is to be rebalanced, argue analysts at Barclays Capital in a note published Tuesday. While independent producers appear to have stepped off the gas (in favor of oil), as a group they haven’t stopped their pursuit of company-level production growth, Barclays said.

The name of the game for the next three weeks at El Paso Corp. will be “proxy,” as opposing sides argue their case to shareholders on whether to keep the current board of directors by voting their white proxy statement or throw out the incumbents by voting their blue proxy statement in time for the annual meeting June 17 in Houston.

A veteran analyst of natural gas fundamentals sees a very tight balance between supply and demand with prices rising to well over $4.00 by February.

In light of the “national importance” and “precedent-setting character” of the pending bid-rigging and price-manipulation complaint against El Paso Natural Gas, California regulators and the state’s three principal utilities have asked that they be given a chance to make a pitch for their case before the full FERC.

In light of the “national importance” and “precedent-setting character” of the pending bid-rigging and price-manipulation complaint against El Paso Natural Gas, California regulators and the state’s three principal utilities have asked that they be given a chance to make a pitch for their case before the full FERC.

While some may argue that California’s energy woes offer a prime reason for placing the electric competition genie firmly back in its bottle, a recent case study by a global consulting group asserts that California’s energy difficulties mask the fact that other power markets in the United States are not only surviving, but thriving, with the PJM market serving as the perfect example.

While some may argue that California’s energy woes offer a prime reason for placing the electric competition genie firmly back in its bottle, a recent case study by a global consulting group asserts that California’s energy difficulties mask the fact that other power markets in the United States are not only surviving, but thriving, with the PJM market serving as the perfect example.