Customer

The Canadian-based backer of the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal and Pacific Connector transmission pipeline tying it to the western gas grid said on Friday that FERC has delayed until June the date for completing the project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). In an environment of depressed global oil prices the delay may prove to be even more problematic.

Hi-Crush Partners LP, which produces and markets Northern White sand used as proppant in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), may see demand rise this year even as rigs are dropped because production rates are more important than ever, a top executive said last week.

Even as low purchased gas costs in Pennsylvania are expected to continue benefiting consumers for the remainder of the winter, one utility believes its rates could be even lower next season.

Tesco Corp., an oilfield services company based in Houston, said the collapse of world oil prices has caused several of its customers to either delay or cancel requests for its services, and it warned that its financial results for 4Q2014 and the full-year 2015 will be affected.

No matter how volatile the global political scenario becomes for oil and gas markets, North America will remain in a more solid position because the unconventionals have provided operators with predictability that can’t be found anywhere else in the world, Baker Hughes Inc.’s CEO said Thursday.

The Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA), which represents heating oil and gasoline dealers, filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) on Friday, accusing regulators of failing to assess environmental impacts from a plan to expand natural gas infrastructure in Connecticut.

A natural gas utility’s plans to convert 3,000 homes and businesses in Maine to natural gas ran into a snag because many heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors are unfamiliar with the options available to new natural gas customers.

Eight months after filing a request with the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) to build a $700 million natural gas-fired baseload combined-cycle (NGCC) and solar generation facility, Louisville Gas and Electric Co. (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Co. (KU) have withdrawn the NGCC application, saying they will instead pursue a solar-only option.

Analysts at U.S. Capital Advisors LLC (USCA) said utility stocks may have upside potential in the near future as the shale revolution continues, with more customers converting to natural gas, new construction rates returning to normal and the nation continuing its recovery from the 2008 recession.