Dismissing

FERC last Thursday approved D’Lo Gas Storage LLC’s proposal to build a 24 Bcf salt dome natural gas storage facility in South Central Mississippi, dismissing claims that the the addition of more storage capacity would harm incumbent operators in the region.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit against the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) for leasing thousands of state-protected wildlife acres in the Fayetteville Shale for gas exploration.

With a U.S. District Court in San Diego dismissing a lawsuit last month, Sempra Energy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja California in Mexico is free of any legal challenges for the time being as a similar challenge to Sempra LNG is dormant in a Mexican court, pending a new hearing date.

Dismissing a natural gas storage injection report that was right in line with industry estimates, expiring September natural gas futures pushed to a new low for the move at $2.692 before rebounding to go off the board at $2.843, down 6.7 cents from Wednesday’s finish. The October contract dropped 8.8 cents to close at $3.206.

Dismissing the dominant weakness in natural gas futures late last week in favor of a prevalent chill entering the eastern half of the United States this week, natural gas cash points on Monday were higher across the board, with more than a few dollar-plus gains seen in the Northeast, Midcontinent, Rockies and West.

After digesting and dismissing a larger-than-expected storage withdrawal report in morning trade and testing $8 resistance-turned-support, February natural gas futures did an about-face to the upside just before noon EST on Thursday. Fueled by talks of further interest rate cuts, the contract notched a new $8.280 high for the move before settling the day at $8.259, up 16 cents from Wednesday’s finish.

With its board dismissing its CEO/founder and Wall Street expecting a bankruptcy filing soon, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. received a reprieve of sorts in a Delaware court on Friday, giving the company until Jan. 22 to return $313 million to bondholders from the sale last summer of substantially all of it oil and natural gas assets.

While a federal district judge was dismissing the appeal of two dissenting state regulators challenging the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bankruptcy settlement, the utility filed last week for some $1.29 billion in Chapter 11 costs and fees for attorneys, consultants, investment bankers and accountants. This is the final accounting for the biggest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history, settling some $13 billion in claims.

In dismissing the super-high natural gas prices registered at the California border during the western energy crisis, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appears to have forgotten all their previous arguments for a competitive market, which allocates commodities and signals — through prices — where supplemental supplies are needed.