Biggest

The cash market on average dropped a dime Tuesday with Northeast points and the Rocky Mountains taking the biggest hits. Volatile weather prompted New England losses, but the Great Lakes and Texas points were weak as well. At the close of futures trading April had fallen 1.8 cents to settle at $2.208 after having ventured as low as $2.176. May lost 2.5 cents to $2.294. May crude oil rose 30 cents to $107.33/bbl.

Utility rates changed at the start of the new year in California, Colorado and Oregon with the biggest shifts occurring at Xcel Energy’s Colorado combination utility. Xcel natural gas utility bills increased 1.55% for residential customers and 5.45% for small businesses, while electric rates dropped 6.48% for residential users and 7.08% for small businesses. In California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) residential gas charges increased 1.8% as of Jan. 1, compared to December rates, but the new rates are still slightly lower (0.3%) than those in effect in January 2011. PG&E residential electric rates increased compared to December (2.4%) and January 2011 (2.9%). In Oregon, the two electric utilities’ rates went in opposite directions with PacifiCorp’s going up due to its reliance on more coal-fired generation and Portland General Electric’s (PGE) going down slightly due to its greater use of gas-fired and hydroelectric generation. PacifiCorp rates increased 4.4% or $51 million with the “largest single factor” being higher coal costs, said the Oregon Public Utility Commission, which cut $10.9 million from the multi-state utility’s original request. PGE rates dropped 1.3% or $21.8 million due mostly to the replacement of some nonhydro contracts with less expensive gas-fired generation contracts.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., one of the biggest deal makers in the U.S. energy patch, has secured more funding for its onshore exploration and production program after it agreed to sell its natural gas pipeline gathering system in the Marcellus Shale to an affiliate for $865 million, analysts said.

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) last week took several steps to expand its North American oil and natural gas operations with the biggest an agreement to buy BP plc’s Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business.

Sending a message to the natural gas industry, California regulators last Thursday unanimously handed out the biggest fine ever for a gas utility, increasing a penalty to $38 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for a fatal distribution pipeline failure and explosion on Christmas Eve in 2008 in a Sacramento suburb.

Sending a message to the natural gas industry, California regulators on Thursday handed out the biggest penalty ever for a gas utility, increasing a penalty to $38 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for a fatal distribution pipeline failure and explosion on Christmas Eve in 2008 in a Sacramento suburb.

Houston-based Escopeta Oil Co. LLC’s discovery of an estimated 3.5 Tcf of natural gas in Alaska’s Cook Inlet could be the region’s biggest discovery in decades and could go a long way toward meeting the heading and power generation demand in the state’s Southcentral region.

The surge of U.S. shale gas supplies has caused a large-scale rethink on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the relationship of the U.S. gas market to that of the rest of the world. Those who used to watch U.S. shores for inbound tankers now wonder how soon and how many tankers will leave this country loaded with liquefied shale gas.

Houston-based Escopeta Oil Co. LLC’s discovery of an estimated 3.5 Tcf of natural gas in Alaska’s Cook Inlet could be the region’s biggest discovery in decades and could go a long way toward meeting the heading and power generation demand in the state’s Southcentral region.