Continues

Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said last week the company continues to “evaluate all options” in an attempt to merge with Southern Union Co. but questions about whether it will attempt to trump Energy Transfer Equity LP’s latest bid went unanswered.

Even in what continues to be a weak economic recovery, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) said Monday it is moving ahead with an all-source request for proposals (RFP) for new long-term power supplies to come online over the 2012 to 2015 period. Natural gas-fired generation is very much in the mix of bids PSE is seeking, the utility told state regulators in seeking approval for the RFP.

West Virginia, which collected less than $55 million in severance taxes from natural gas operations last year, could see that number jump to nearly $120 million by 2016, thanks in large part to the state’s growing Marcellus Shale industry, according to Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow.

The pace of development in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is fast and steady, yet “the [stock] market continues to not appreciate the statistical and predictable nature of the learning curve” in the play, said analysts at FBR Capital Markets. They noted that in other shale plays, more wells have equaled greater knowledge, which has yielded predictable productivity gains.

The pace of development in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is fast and steady, yet “the [stock] market continues to not appreciate the statistical and predictable nature of the learning curve” in the play, said analysts at FBR Capital Markets. They noted that in other shale plays, more wells have equaled greater knowledge, which has yielded predictable productivity gains.

Bayer AG continues to discuss the lease or sale of acreage it owns in West Virginia for potential locations for ethane crackers, but at least one company has dropped out of those talks. “An affiliate of ours had been looking at a project in that area for an ethylene facility, but they are no longer doing that,” a spokesman for Houston-based PetroLogistics told NGI’s Shale Daily. In December, Bayer said a trio of sites it owns in industrial parks in New Martinsville, Institute and South Charleston, WV, totaling about 1,480 acres were available and would be ideal locations for thermal crackers (see Shale Daily, Dec. 23, 2010). Bayer wouldn’t discuss “speculation or market rumors” about possible deals, but has been in “serious discussions with several interested companies” that are looking at the West Virginia properties, Bayer spokesman Bryan Iams told NGI’s Shale Daily.

Activity in the Permian Basin of West Texas continues to heat up. Last week a major natural gas liquids pipeline project was announced while, separately, more producing oil and gas assets there traded hands.

Energy efficiency continues to make a dent in the national energy markets, with more states than ever formally measuring the annual impact of utility driven energy savings programs, according to two reports from the independent nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Twenty-four states have implemented energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) in the past six years, following the lead of Texas and Vermont, and 13 of the 19 states with EERS policies in place for two years or longer achieved 100% or more of their goals; three states reached 90%; and the remaining three achieved 80%, according to ACEEE’s first report, “Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: A Progress Report on State Energy Saving Targets.” The second report documents how utilities are planning to increase their efforts to hit these higher energy saving levels. Six states with reportedly the largest and most successful efficiency programs — California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Vermont — are highlighted in some detail in terms of their ongoing and planned programs. Another six states among the next tier are also highlighted — Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The number of parties unhappy with the low level of industry representation on President Obama’s new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) advisory panel continues to grow as answers are sought and questions surrounding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) motives arise.