Atlantic

The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to produce fewer than the average number of tropical storms and hurricanes, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.com, who said tropical development could be altered by the onset of an El Nino even in late summer of fall.

An El Nino event — the warming of water temperatures in the central and equatorial Pacific Ocean — is likely to limit the number of hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Basin this year, according to forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU), more good news for the U.S. natural gas industry, which is increasingly insulated from the impact of tropical storms.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company LLC (Transco) is seeking offers from shippers to relinquish firm capacity on its system to support the proposed Atlantic Sunrise Project, which is intended to serve Marcellus Shale production.

The 2014 Atlantic Hurricane season is likely to be less active than normal, producing fewer powerful storms than average and bringing below-normal risk to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and Caribbean Sea, according to an early forecast from Houston-based ImpactWeather.

A relatively quiet 2013 Atlantic hurricane season and no sign of tropical activity on the horizon has prompted Weather Services International (WSI) to make a significant reduction to its tropical forecast. WSI forecasters said they now expect 15 named storms to form in the Atlantic Basin, including five hurricanes, one of them major (Category 3 or higher).

There has been a flurry of tropical storm activity across the Atlantic and the Caribbean this week, but with less than 90 days remaining in the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, energy interests in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) remain unscathed, and the season has yet to produce a single hurricane.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) was to start up service over the weekend on the first pipeline loop of its major Northeast Supply Link expansion, one of the key links in sending new gas out of the Marcellus Shale.

A group of Republican and Democratic senators last week proposed legislation that seeks to expedite exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member nations, Japan and others.

A group of Republican and Democratic senators have proposed legislation that seeks to expedite exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member nations, Japan and others.