Cost

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) should deny an application from Laser Northeast Gathering Co. LLC to be deemed a public utility with the ability to exercise the right of public domain for its proposed gathering and transportation pipeline in Susquehanna County, PA, according to an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) recommendation to the PUC.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has installed a new air monitor in Flower Mound, TX, in southern Denton County to track the effects of Barnett Shale gas patch activity.

Marking a U-turn of sorts in the company’s exploration and production strategy due to low natural gas prices and a premium on liquids prices, Range Resources Corp. in its 3Q2010 earnings call put its Barnett Shale properties in Texas on the block and announced that it plans to focus on its “liquids-rich plays” in the Marcellus Shale.

Natural gas drillers continue to generate returns in lower-cost unconventional basins, but “range-bound gas prices…may potentially disrupt current activity” in the second half of the year, Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.

Natural gas drillers continue to generate returns in lower-cost unconventional basins, but “range-bound gas prices…may potentially disrupt current activity” in the second half of the year, Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar said Monday.

Saying the cost of buying natural gas has declined “significantly” in recent months, Questar Gas asked the Public Service Commission of Utah (PSC) to reduce natural gas rates by $6.7 million, a move which would lower a typical residential customer’s annual bill by about $3.50 (0.5%). If approved, the rate cut would go into effect Oct. 1. Questar cut natural gas rates by $63 million (5.3%) last November and $157 million (16%) in March. Earlier this year the PSC approved a Questar request for an immediate $50 million one-time rebate to its customers (see Daily GPI, April 22). The rebate, which was also prompted by lower natural gas prices, reduced the typical customer’s May natural gas bill by $40-45, Questar said. Twice a year Questar and the PSC use third-party forecasts of gas prices to estimate how much the utility’s rates should be adjusted to cover anticipated gas procurement costs.

While the major commodity exchanges were divided over the effectiveness of broad-based position limits, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Tuesday indicated that the agency was clearly headed in this direction for trading in the energy futures markets.

The cost of being regulated by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) went down Wednesday — by a fraction of a penny (1/200th of a cent to be exact). The three-member PUC voted unanimously to lower its assessment against all of the private-sector utilities it regulates to 1.90 mills from 1.95 mills.

Over-the-counter (OTC) energy derivatives trading was spared the recent round of cost-cutting among capital-starved financial institutions because it “was generating significant revenues and represented a rare opportunity for continued profits and growth,” according to a study by consultancy Greenwich Associates.