California

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $1.1 billion to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to extend the life of California’s last remaining nuclear power plant. The decision could further minimize natural gas consumption in the nation’s most populous state. PG&E’s 2.2 GW Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) in San Luis Obispo County…

ExxonMobil is warning that it expects to have a one-time writedown of $2.5 billion in 4Q2023 for the reduced value of some upstream assets in California, similar to a one-time quarterly impairment expected by Chevron Corp. The one-time impairment would be for the idled Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) and associated oil and gas facilities, ExxonMobil…

As policies incentivizing clean energy continue to mount, renewable natural gas (RNG) is poised for more growth, the scale of which could depend on the outcome of state and federal legislation.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) launched investments into alternative fuels, including RNG, in part because of the expansion of investment tax credits…

A divided appeals court on Tuesday affirmed its ruling that the first natural gas ban enacted in the United States, in Berkeley, CA, is preempted by federal law, setting the stage for more legal fights across the country. In a 65-page amended opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit threw out Berkeley’s…

Chevron Corp.’s upstream oil and natural gas assets are set to take a big one-time hit in the fourth quarter results, primarily because of “continuing regulatory challenges” in California, where the integrated major is headquartered.  The San Ramon-based producer on Tuesday detailed the upstream impairments in a Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing.  The…

California regulators pulled the remaining subsidies offered for constructing buildings that rely on natural gas or propane in a move to support decarbonization and incentivize electrification.  After eliminating natural gas line extension subsidies for all mixed-fuel buildings in 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) earlier in December struck electric line extension subsidies for new…

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) customers can expect a nearly 13% bill increase next year after California regulators approved a plan to harden electric infrastructure against wildfire risks and upgrade some natural gas infrastructure.  The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously approved the three-year general rate case (GRC) to recover the costs from undergrounding…

Robust flows of natural gas southward from Canada into the Lower 48 in November are bolstering already stout U.S. supplies, helping to keep next-day cash prices in check relative to last year, analysts say. “For most of the month, imports have run more than 1 Bcf/d higher than last year, with strength most evident in…

Even as natural gas pipeline operators take action to balance system capacity with an oversupply of natural gas flooding the market, prices at the SoCal Citygate have consistently held a substantial premium to values at nearby delivery locations, prompting the question, why? Spot prices at SoCal Citygate averaged less than $1.00/MMBtu above the Henry Hub…