Confident

Exploration and production (E&P) companies are more confident about spending now than they were six months ago, Barclays Capital reported last week.

Exploration and production (E&P) companies are more confident about spending now than they were late last year, Barclays Capital reported Monday.

Two former federal regulators appear confident that Congress will pass energy legislation this year, even though the 2012 election season is fast approaching — a time when most lawmakers shy away from contentious energy matters.

There is no doubt that shale gas will be a factor in future natural gas supply forecasts, but how big the role that turns out to be is still uncertain as a “huge learning curve” accelerates, a lead gas analyst at the California Energy Commission (CEC) told NGI last Friday.

Energy executives seem to be feeling more confident about the future, evidenced in recent surveys and sealed by the surge in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity since late 2009.

Energy executives seem to be feeling more confident about the future, evidenced in recent surveys and sealed by the surge in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity since late 2009.

Energy executives seem to be feeling more confident about the future, evidenced in recent surveys and sealed by the surge in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity since late 2009.

Calling it a “positive milestone” in what is now a three-year permitting process, Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) early in the new year reacted upbeat and confident that its proposed 150-mile, $1.3 billion high-voltage transmission project, Sunrise Powerlink, ultimately will be built. The utility insists it is the most “cost-effective and reliable” means of tapping large new renewable-produced electricity from neighboring Imperial County.

Williams has no intention to delay any of its natural gas exploration and production (E&P) operations in the Rocky Mountains — even with the basis blowouts that have decimated gas prices in the region over the past few months.