Causing

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed charges Thursday against Matthew Doyle, a natural gas futures broker, for allegedly causing fake natural gas futures orders to be traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), resulting in million of dollars in losses to his employer, Natural Futures LLC (NFL).

After causing quite a stir in 2005 with his unsuccessful attempt to open up the Virginia coastline to natural gas drilling, state Sen. Frank Wagner (R-VA) introduced energy legislation in the opening days of the General Assembly last week that is more comprehensive in scope than his energy measure that was debated by state lawmakers last year.

After causing quite a stir last year with his unsuccessful attempt to open up the Virginia coastline to natural gas drilling, state Sen. Frank Wagner (R-VA) is planning to introduce energy legislation Tuesday that is more comprehensive in scope than his energy measure that was debated in the General Assembly last year.

Due to Hurricane Katrina causing many reductions in receipt volumes into its system and 90-degree temperatures being forecasted in Florida, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice for its market area Sunday at 25% tolerance for negative daily imbalances. It tightened the tolerance to 10% Monday as supply problems continued.

Tropical Storm Cindy, with winds increasing to near hurricane force late Tuesday, was causing about 350 MMcf/d of confirmed shut-ins (and likely more) as it moved northward toward the central Gulf Coast. Heavy rains and squalls were spreading onshore with landfall in the New Orleans area being anticipated sometime Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Capital costs to construct natural gas pipelines are about half of those required to build electric transmission wires, according to a joint study by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Northwest Gas Association (NGA). Gas pipes also have lower costs per energy unit delivered and total annual costs, it said.

As the first week of the New Year drew to a close, increasing scrutiny by local news media and state regulators threatened to unravel the end-of-year decision by PG&E Corp. and its utility to move ahead with distributing $83 million in bonuses to 17 top executives in the corporation and Chapter 11 bankruptcy bound utility and merchant energy units. When and how the proceeds from so-called “phantom” stock options will be distributed was still undetermined.

A yet-to-be-published federal report that is unfavorable to liquefied natural gas (LNG) is causing quite a stir in Massachusetts, prompting Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to renew his call for a ban on LNG tanker traffic in Boston Harbor, and the mayor of Fall River, MA, to claim the report adds fuel to his campaign to block a proposed LNG facility from being sited in his city.

A yet-to-be-published federal report that is unfavorable to liquefied natural gas (LNG) is causing quite a stir in Massachusetts, prompting Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to renew his call for a ban on LNG tanker traffic in Boston Harbor, and the mayor of Fall River, MA, to claim the report adds fuel to his campaign to block a proposed LNG facility from being sited in his city.