Capacity

A successful hedging strategy and the use of gas storage capacity paid off for South Jersey Gas, which announced plans to cut residential gas customer rates by 25 cents/Dth, while also providing a credit in March 2004 gas bills averaging about $89. The rate reduction, excluding the credit, will save customers about $16 during the remainder of 2004, the company said.

Credit Suisse First Boston analysts are taking a bearish view of gas prices in 2004 but believe gas pipeline companies and local distributors (LDCs) should see higher share valuations because of the current focus of investors on balance sheet repair rather than on high commodity prices.

Compressor failure has cut Fidlar Station capacity to 90,000-100,000 Dth/d until Nov. 21 or further notice, Questar said. Shippers may reduce adverse scheduling impact by using the TransColorado delivery point, it added.

Effective with Saturday’s gas day and until further notice, Northwest was not accepting injection requests for interruptible capacity in its Jackson Prairie Storage Facility. In addition, the pipeline said, all interruptible storage holders must eliminate any existing balances at Jackson Prairie by Aug. 31.

Citing forecasts of continued warm weather in Florida and heavy use of its capacity, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Friday for customers in its market area. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was 20%.

California’s new statewide energy action plan calls for an accelerated effort to increase gas storage capacity, gas conservation and demand-side management as well as developing two Pacific Coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals, the state’s three major energy agencies announced in a press conference last week. “California is in the market for LNG, and that is what people need to hear,” said one of the state energy commissioners.

California’s new statewide energy action plan calls for an accelerated effort to increase gas storage capacity, gas conservation and demand-side management as well as developing two Pacific Coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals, the state’s three major energy agencies announced in a press conference this week. “California is in the market for LNG, and that is what people need to hear,” said one of the state energy commissioners.

Dynegy Inc. has named Layne J. Albert as vice president – tax. In this capacity, Albert will be responsible for all tax matters relating to the company and its business segments. He will report to CFO Nick Caruso. Albert, 38, has more than 12 years of tax and tax-related experience and most recently was vice president of taxes with Encompass Services Corp., where he was employed for the past five years. Albert also has worked for Tenneco Inc., Ernst & Young LLP and Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams and Martin, a Houston-based law firm. Albert earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, a doctorate of jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law and a master’s degree in Laws in Taxation from the University of Houston.

Citing forecasts of continued warm weather in Florida and heavy use of its capacity, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Tuesday for its market area. The notice carries a 20% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.