Bandwagon

In addition to investing in its California utilities, Sempra Energy plans to ride the growing U.S. bandwagon for exporting plentiful domestic supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a $7 billion joint venture and midstream master limited partnership (MLP) centered on its under-used Cameron LNG receiving facility in Louisiana, according to CEO Debra Reed, who spoke Thursday at a Sempra financial analysts’ conference in San Diego.

The swing toward natural gas vehicles (NGV) took on aspects of a bandwagon last week as two major automakers paraded out new natural gas-powered pickup trucks, and GE and Chesapeake Energy Corp. heralded a new “CNG In A Box” fueling station.

Joining a bandwagon that the Obama administration is attempting to jump-start, Ryder Systems Inc. said Thursday it is ordering 202 heavy-duty natural gas vehicles (NGV) for its national fleet truck and equipment rentals.

Rosetta Resources Inc. will spend about 90% of its 2011 capital budget of $360 million on the liquids-rich window of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Houston-based independent said. Spending will be funded from cash flow and planned asset sales in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and California.

If you missed the last bandwagon, stick around; there will be another one coming along soon. Not to be outdone by health care reform friends and foes, energy companies and environmentalists are going on the road with the aim of staging as many rallies as possible in Congressional home districts during the August recess, aiming to influence votes in September. It’s the populist revolution and everyone’s in the game.

If you missed the last bandwagon, stick around; there will be another one coming along soon. Not to be outdone by health care reform friends and foes, energy companies and environmentalists are going on the road with the aim of staging as many rallies as possible in Congressional home districts during the August recess, aiming to influence votes in September. It’s the populist revolution and everyone’s in the game.

Williams is jumping on the master limited partnership (MLP) bandwagon with the announcement last week that it plans to create an MLP to own gas pipeline assets. The company also said it will repurchase up to $1 billion of its common shares.

While national elected officials are still debating the issue, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday took his global climate change bandwagon to Europe, meeting with outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair en route to a similar meeting Wednesday with newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris. The topic in both places: how California and the two European Union nations can help each other fight greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) Monday became the fourth lawmaker to call for either federal investigations or Capitol Hill hearings into the rapid run-up in prices for natural gas since late November.