Change

A bill that would change the name of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission, as well as make other reforms, was approved Monday by the Texas House of Representatives. The legislation is slated for a conference committee with the state Senate.

Natural gas is mostly methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas, especially in the short term, with 105 times more warming impact pound for pound than CO2, said Cornell ecologist Robert Howarth. He added that “even small leaks make a big difference” and estimated that as much as 8% of the methane in shale gas leaks into the air during the lifetime of a hydraulically fractured shale gas well, which is up to twice what escapes from conventional gas production.

In the midst of a global climate change strategy among policymakers, the demand for fossil fuels is surging, which in turn is impacting the deployment of clean energy technologies, according to a report released Wednesday at the second Clean Energy Ministerial in Abu Dhabi.

Pacific Gas and Electric extended the systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO that began Friday through at least Saturday with no change in conditions.

The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a bill that would freeze the permitting of Marcellus Shale drilling until 2013 while state agencies review the results of various studies into Marcellus development and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking), including a major study being performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (see Shale Daily, Feb. 24).

A centerpiece of California’s precedent-setting climate change law (AB 32) was dealt a blow by a San Francisco Superior Court ruling released last Monday that could require a full-blown environmental impact report (EIR) before the proposed cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be implemented. It was set to be effective next year, but could have to wait until at least to 2013.

Marketers that reported in both 4Q2009 and 4Q2010 posted an 8% increase in volumes from a year ago. read more

Marketers that reported in both 4Q2009 and 4Q2010 posted an 8% increase in volumes from a year ago.

If you don’t like the direction of natural gas cash prices, wait a day and they’ll likely change. Such was the case during the first two days of the week as Monday’s across-the-board gains were wiped out by Tuesday’s across-the-board declines.