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Energy companies need to embrace trading as a necessary core component of their energy operations and must develop a trading strategy that “encapsulates effective governance and active risk management” in order to survive, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers titled “Energy Trading – Re-establishing Sound Foundations.”

Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (RMEC) said Friday that it has obtained $5 million in development financing dedicated to its recently acquired fields in Wyoming which will enable it to immediately generate cash flow from its proved gas reserves in the state.

The media spotlight on the natural gas industry has “severely constrained” the industry’s ability to develop new resources and prevent an “imminent supply crisis,” according to a new report by Boston-based Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI) Calling it the “arraignment of the gas industry before the investment community, regulators and the public,” ESAI suggested that the headlines have done more damage to the natural gas industry — and future supplies — than just a few black eyes to a few companies.

Canadian-based producers EnCana Corp. and Devon Canada Corp. have agreed to cooperate on developing the natural gas and bitumen resources at EnCana’s Christina Lake thermal recovery project in northeastern Alberta. The competing development plans, in which Devon was producing gas and EnCana wanted to produce bitumen, had been stalled after EnCana protested Devon’s project. The companies were awaiting a hearing by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB). The agreement, reached this week, will allow the companies to pool their resources and money on both projects.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line announced that it is currently in the planning stages to develop an expansion of its pipeline system in the Northeast United States. Known as the Sentinel Expansion Project, Transco said the endeavor could have a capital cost of up to $300 million.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line announced that it is currently in the planning stages to develop an expansion of its pipeline system in the Northeast United States. Known as the Sentinel Expansion Project, Transco said the endeavor could have a capital cost of up to $300 million.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is adding two new projects to its program to develop new technologies that can increase natural gas production from low-permeability, or “tight,” reservoirs. The new projects, to be carried out by Advanced Resources International of Arlington, VA, and Cementing Solutions of Houston, were selected for federal cost-sharing when Congress increased DOE’s budget for natural gas research in fiscal year 2002. They will join two projects selected last August. All four had been proposed in an industry-wide competition earlier this year.

The Department of Energy is adding two new projects to its program to develop new technologies that can increase natural gas production from low-permeability, or “tight,” reservoirs. The new projects, to be carried out by Advanced Resources International of Arlington, VA, and Cementing Solutions of Houston, were selected for federal cost-sharing when Congress increased DOE’s budget for natural gas research in fiscal year 2002. They will join two projects selected last August. All four had been proposed in an industry-wide competition earlier this year.

A subsidiary of Duke Energy’s Market Hub Partners (MHP) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the preliminary go-ahead to develop an underground natural gas storage facility in Copiah County, MS.