Difficult

Acknowledging that customers’ natural gas bills could be going up in difficult times, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) in late December approved a conservation and rate decoupling plan for Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) that provides incentives for residential customers to reduce consumption. VNG is guaranteed a certain level of revenue under the approved rate decoupling plan whether or not customers use less gas.

Acknowledging that customers’ natural gas bills could be going up in difficult times, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) Tuesday approved a conservation and rate decoupling plan for Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) that provides incentives for residential customers to reduce consumption. VNG is guaranteed a certain level of revenue under the approved rate decoupling plan whether or not customers use less gas.

Before its interim period before long-term contracts kick in, Sempra Energy is looking for spot market liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to line up following the completion of some test shipments that are due in the second quarter on the West Coast, Sempra CEO Donald Felsinger told financial analysts on an earnings call last week.

There are still worlds to conquer for master limited partnerships (MLP), but access to capital is more difficult to obtain now than it was just months ago, making consolidation among players a more likely scenario in the months ahead, according to a report by Sanders Morris Harris (SMH).

There are still worlds to conquer for master limited partnerships (MLP), but access to capital is more difficult to obtain now than it was just months ago, making consolidation among players a more likely scenario in the months ahead, according to a report by Sanders Morris Harris (SMH).

While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause — wellhead freeze-offs or insufficient data — U.S. natural gas production has dropped dramatically, to post-Katrina levels, at a time when cold weather across the country has driven demand to a peak 40% above the average, Denver-based consulting firm Bentek Energy reported Friday. The company — one of only a few firms that is collecting gas pipeline flow data nationwide — said data show a 5.3% decline in domestic production occurred over a one-week period between Jan. 10 and Jan. 17.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause — wellhead freeze-offs or insufficient data — U.S. natural gas production has dropped dramatically, to post-Katrina levels, at a time when cold weather across the country has driven demand to a peak 40% above the average, Denver-based consulting firm Bentek Energy reported Friday.

The long, difficult battle for the shares of Canadian Southern Petroleum is finally nearing an end, with white knight Canadian Oil Sands Trust beating out hostile takeover bids by Petro-Canada and Canadian Superior and obtaining 65% of the company’s outstanding shares.

The U.S. is entering “an era when mergers are going to be more difficult again” and will “only be easy in places where there’s a very troubled utility,” Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe said last Thursday in remarks made at the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. strategic decisions conference in New York City.