Calls

FERC has approved a certificate giving Sonora Pipeline LLC, a subsidiary of Tidelands Oil & Gas Corp., the go-ahead for its proposed pipeline at the U.S.-Mexican border.

Responding to producers’ calls for increased pipeline capacity tapping Appalachian gas, Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. (TCO) is conducting a nonbinding open season and reverse open season through 4:30 p.m. ET July 6 for added compression to push more gas out of Kentucky and West Virginia into the market area.

Interior Secretary Kirk Kempthorne last Monday released the proposed five-year program (2007-2012) that calls for leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Alaska’s Bristol Bay area and possibly offshore Virginia. Industry and consumer groups said the offshore leasing plan was far short of what is needed to meet increasing natural gas demand.

Interior Secretary Kirk Kempthorne Monday released the proposed five-year program (2007-2012) that calls for leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area and possibly offshore Virginia. Industry and consumer groups said the offshore leasing plan was far short of what is needed to meet increasing natural gas demand.

The Colorado Senate last Wednesday approved legislation that calls for a greater number of nonindustry members to sit on a commission that regulates the state’s oil and natural gas operations.

The Colorado Senate Wednesday approved legislation that calls for a greater number of nonindustry members to sit on a commission that regulates the state’s oil and natural gas operations.

In what appears to be a response to recent congressional calls for more market transparency and an inquiry into potential market manipulation, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) said earlier this month that it will require all traders with positions above the standard expiration position limit of 1,000 gas contracts going into the final day of trading for an expiring contract to reveal their complete book of positions linked to the settlement price of the expiring contract.

In what appears to be a response to recent congressional calls for more market transparency and an inquiry into potential market manipulation, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) said earlier this month that it will require all traders with positions above the standard expiration position limit of 1,000 gas contracts going into the final day of trading for an expiring contract to reveal their complete book of positions linked to the settlement price of the expiring contract.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee last Wednesday approved by unanimous voice vote a pipeline safety reauthorization bill that calls on the Department of Transportation (DOT) to review the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recommendation for longer intervals between safety reassessments of natural gas pipelines, and to transmit “appropriate legislative changes” to Congress.