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The Senate Commerce Committee last week voted out pipelinesafety reauthorization legislation that the natural gas pipelineindustry has billed as a “gross overreaction” to an explosionbrought on by a rupture in a products pipeline last June.

The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday voted out pipelinesafety reauthorization legislation that the natural gas pipelineindustry is billing as a “gross overreaction” to an explosionbrought on by a rupture in a products pipeline last June.

PG&E Corp. is the latest energy giant to seek a toehold inthe fast-growing Arizona merchant power plant market, gaining aninitial state approval last week, but facing up to a half-dozencounty, state and federal environmental reviews for a proposed $500million, 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

PG&E Corp. is the latest energy giant to seek a toehold inthe fast-growing Arizona merchant power plant market, gaining aninitial state approval last week, but facing up to a half-dozencounty, state and federal environmental reviews for a proposed $500million, 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week announcedfive “practical steps” that it will take this summer to “alleviatereliability stresses” on the electric transmission grid duringperiods of heightened demand. Commissioner Curt Hebert Jr.,however, cast doubts not only the effectiveness of the measures,but FERC’s motive for proposing them.

FERC last week upheld its previous orders accepting TexasEastern Transmission’s tariff provisions that require emergencyshippers, such as hospitals, to reimburse non-emergency shippersjust for the loss of firm transportation capacity — not the lossof gas supply — stemming from pro-rata curtailments.

In a gesture of conciliation, the Edison Electric Institute(EEI) yesterday said it will meet with board members of the GasIndustry Standards Board (GISB) within the next few weeks in aneffort to bring more electric utilities and electric-relatedcompanies into the debate over whether retail standards should beestablished for electricity and, if so, by whom.

Domestic natural gas demand next year will surpass the 22 Tcfmark for the first time since 1972, the Independent PetroleumAssociation of America (IPAA) forecasts. The higher anticipateddemand, which the producer group pegged at 22.56 Tcf, will bespurred by growth in the industrial and residential sectors, withdemand for the former expected to be up 2.5% to 9.14 Tcf and demandfor the latter up by 2.1% to 5 Tcf. The IPAA anticipates a similar2.1% growth for the commercial sector to 3.3 Tcf, but demand byelectric utilities – where the gas industry is pinning much of itshopes for the future – is likely to tumble by 1% to 3.18 Tcf nextyear. It forecasts about another 1.94 Tcf will be consumed as leaseand plant fuel and pipeline fuel. Demand will outstrip domesticsupply of dry natural gas, which is predicted to increase by 1% to18.94 Tcf next year. The majority of the U.S. gas production willbe in the Gulf of Mexico, the group said. Gas imports will accountfor about 3.94 Tcf, up 5.7% from 2000. For oil and natural gasliquids (NGLs), the IPAA estimated domestic production willincrease slightly to 7.83 million barrels per day, while importswill hit 11.30 million b/d. U.S. consumption of oil and NGLs willrise by 1.3% to 19.87 million b/d.

Suncor Energy Inc. of Calgary said it will reposition its gasbusiness to achieve at least a 10% return on capital within fiveyears. Suncor intends to build competitive operating areas, improvebase business efficiency and create new, low-capital businesses.