Decision

Hailing Thursday’s decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to, among other things, encourage more state access to less expensive Rocky Mountain gas supplies (see Daily GPI, Sept. 3), Kern River announced Friday that Southern California Gas had received approval from the CPUC to provide an additional 50 MMcf/d of capacity at the Kramer Junction receipt point, to be effective with Timely cycle nominations for Saturday’s gas day. “Kern River has fought long and hard to gain access to [SoCal] gas markets for its customers and the first victory is finally here,” the pipeline said. “Although there is still more that needs to be done, SoCal also estimates that it will implement the new North Desert Transmission Zone (NDTZ) allocation methodology before Oct. 1, 2004. In its filing to the CPUC, SoCal defined the NDTZ as being comprised of Topock, North Needles, Southern Trails and Kramer Junction, with a maximum receipt point operational capacity of 1.59 Bcf/d. For the Timely and Evening cycles, SoCal will set the operational capacities at the NDTZ receipt points to the maximum quantities defined in their filing, which for Kramer Junction is 500 MMcf/d.” See the Kern River bulletin board for further details.

In a unanimous 5-0 decision Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that oil and gas producers may keep the natural gas that they extract from their leases located along the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Landowners for many years had argued that they were entitled to the gas. As a result, the ruling relieves a major legal headache for producers.

In a unanimous 5-0 decision Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that oil and gas producers may keep the natural gas that they extract from their leases located along the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Landowners for many years had argued that they were entitled to the gas. As a result, the ruling relieves a major legal headache for producers.

In a decision that was widely anticipated, FERC last Wednesday upheld a March order in which the agency asserted “exclusive jurisdiction” over Sound Energy Solution’s (SES) planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the Port of Long Beach, CA.

In a decision that was widely anticipated, FERC on Wednesday upheld a March order in which the agency asserted “exclusive jurisdiction” over Sound Energy Solution’s (SES) planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the Port of Long Beach, CA.

When forced to make a decision between running lower on fairly bearish natural gas storage news or trading higher on influence from the crude oil futures market, July natural gas futures chose the latter, notching a high on the day of $6.22 before settling at $6.176, up 9.4 cents.

A judge has overturned a $3.2 million judgment against Dynegy Midstream Services LP and affiliate Versado Gas Processors LLC in a case brought by Apache Corp., ruling that the jury had reached its verdict without sufficient evidence against the companies.

After several years of added time and legal costs, Avista Corp. received a formal decision Wednesday from FERC that the company’s utility and trading units had not manipulated wholesale energy markets during the western crisis of 2000-2001. The regulators approved their trial staff’s conclusion of no wrongdoing.

Marathon Oil Corp.’s decision last week to become the sole owner of Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP) will strengthen its business mix and long-term strategy, and the transaction eventually will enhance the growth of its emerging integrated natural gas business, analysts said.