Changing

Citing changing market conditions since it proposed the project, Chevron Corp. has decided to put the brakes on development of its Casotte Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mississippi.

There’s no doubt among executives in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business that a wave of imports is heading for U.S. terminals later this year. And while the U.S. is the market of last choice for global LNG producers, some terminals offer a richer netback than others, namely those on the East Coast, speakers at a Houston conference said Thursday.

Sierra Pacific Resources shareholders Wednesday approved changing the utility holding company’s name to NV Energy Inc., effective Thursday. The company will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NVE.”

The place many consider the birthplace of the modern U.S. environmental movement, California’s Santa Barbara County, is considering changing its decades-long opposition to renewed offshore drilling along its stretch of Pacific coast, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The five-member county Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider writing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ask for a change of state policy against drilling.

Higher prices, increasing supply demands from developing nations, recently enacted U.S. regulations and changing public attitudes toward greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and alternative fuels are all forcing changes in worldwide energy markets, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Annual Energy Outlook 2008 (AEO).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) was hit by $158 million in added operations/maintenance costs in the third quarter this year, and it is changing the technology for its advanced meter replacement that will increase the costs of that five-year effort to replace more than 10 million electric and natural gas meters. These issues gained a lot of attention from financial analysts last Thursday during a conference call with PG&E Corp.’s senior management, highlighting decreased earnings for the third quarter.

As expected, the changing of the guard in the Alaska governor’s mansion has brought with it a rethinking of plans for a natural gas pipeline to carry production from the state’s gas-rich North Slope to the Lower 48. The state has thrown open the doors to new proposals for monetizing its gas resource, and one project backer is calling the change in approach “a breath of fresh air.”

As expected, the changing of the guard in the Alaska governor’s mansion has brought with it a rethinking of plans for a natural gas pipeline to carry production from the state’s gas-rich North Slope to the Lower 48. The state has thrown open the doors to new proposals for monetizing its gas resource.

Increased organic capital spending, greater commodity price volatility, changing ownership structures and developing regulatory policy are expected to continue to have an impact on credit ratings in the midstream energy sector for the remainder of 2006 and into 2007, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said Thursday in a new industry “report card.”