Debated

The issue of liquids in the gas stream, a high dollar topic currently being debated in several forums, has reached a high decibel level in a tariff filing by ANR Pipeline. But while various segments of the industry maneuver for position on the generic issue, ANR wants to limit the debate to standards for running its own pipeline in the here and now.

The federal government has leased 229 million acres of public and private land to producers in 12 western states for oil and natural gas drilling since 1982, an area greater than the combined size of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, according to a study released by a Washington, DC-based environmental group. But it says only a fraction of the land (13%) ever produced oil or natural gas.

Once again coming in much larger than historical figures, natural gas storage increased by 81 Bcf for the week ended Aug. 27, according to the Energy Information Administration’s latest report. The sizeable build helped natural gas futures continue their path lower as market-watchers focused on Hurricane Frances’ next move.

The federal government has leased 229 million acres of public and private land to producers in 12 western states for oil and natural gas drilling since 1982, an area greater than the combined size of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, according to a study released Tuesday by a Washington, DC-based environmental group. But only a fraction of the land (13%) ever produced oil or natural gas.

As an extension of its hotly debated proposed new market design, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) last week circulated a working document on beefing up its authority next year. The ISO’s “conceptual proposal” will require input from stakeholders and will eventually include published market-sensitive information on a delayed basis. The CAISO will examine the proposal Sept. 19. Eventually some of the plan would have to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a CAISO spokesperson.

It is a case of the missing e-mail alert that was being debated in local California news media Tuesday regarding whether or not the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility was alerted by the FBI last week concerning the potential threat to U.S. natural gas supplies and/or infrastructure as an outgrowth of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. The FBI said they sent an e-mail; Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. in Los Angeles said it never received it.

Top energy regulators and industry officials debated the causes of last year’s record high gas prices in California during a House subcommittee hearing last week that featured a thorough review of the El Paso market manipulation case and all the issues contributing to the serious natural gas market malfunction. FERC Chairman Pat Wood said he does not see a need for legislative action. He believes last year’s high gas prices were the result mainly of multiple supply and demand factors and a mismatch between interstate and California intrastate pipeline capacity, which state LDCs and regulators are in the process of correcting.

State legislators debated a “cash infusion” for the financiallytroubled private-sector utilities yesterday in exchange for statetakeover of their transmission and generation assets. AndCalifornia Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday highlighted a package ofproposed bills to provide $120 million in cash incentives and a 50%tax break to renewable energy and distributed generation developersas a means of fulfilling his promise to add 20,000 MW over the nextthree years.

The cash market made another big surge Monday as traders debatedwhether storage worries or new weather forecasts carried the mostweight in the renewed bullishness. Gains tended to range from abouta quarter to more than a dollar in Transco’s Zone 6 pools in theNortheast. Some production area points were exceeding January indexlevels.