Encourage

President Obama’s speech to the nation’s top business leaders Wednesday fell short of expectations that it would unveil incentives to encourage coal-burning power generation facilities to switch to natural gas.

In a draft energy plan released last Monday, New York Gov. David Paterson said his state would encourage production of conventional and shale natural gas to reduce its dependence on out-of-state resources.

In a draft energy plan released Monday, New York Gov. David Paterson said his state would encourage production of conventional and shale natural gas to reduce its dependence on out-of-state resources.

To encourage shippers to run positive imbalances because of dwindling linepack during an especially severe cold snap in Western Canada, NOVA has reset its imbalance tolerance range to 0/+4.

“Just Do It,” is what its advertisements encourage consumers to do, so Beverton, OR-based Nike Inc. followed similar advice on energy matters from California officials and has converted its cargo-hauling fleet at the Long Beach-Los Angeles Port from diesel to liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled vehicles.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) plans to review the programs and practices initially established to encourage market development of retail electric and natural gas access to determine whether they may have outlived their usefulness and could be allowed to expire or whether the costs of the programs could be shifted from ratepayers to market competitors. PSC Chairwoman Patricia L. Acampora said there currently are more than 100 energy service companies (ESCO), which serve more than 1.3 million customer accounts, with about 40% of the state’s electric usage and 46% of natural gas usage met by ESCOs or through other alternatives to utility supply. The PSC is seeking proposals to modify the existing retail access programs and practices to better align the programs and practices to the current state of market development. Additionally, the PSC said it could consider changes to proposals in future rate proceedings with the understanding that it may be necessary to defer to the generic process in reaching a decision on any particular policy or program. Proposals on Case No. 07-M-0458 may be submitted to the PSC until June 7. Reply comments may be filed until June 27. For information, visit the website at www.dps.state.ny.us.

The year 2006 was a “good year” for interstate natural gas pipelines at FERC, with the agency providing a “very positive…environment to encourage interstate pipeline construction,” said the head of a major pipeline group.

The year 2006 was a “good year” for interstate natural gas pipelines at FERC, with the agency providing a “very positive…environment to encourage interstate pipeline construction,” said the head of a major pipeline group.

Record cash levels and historically low levels of debt should fuel strong exploration and production (E&P) earnings for the second quarter and perhaps encourage more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the energy sector through the rest of the year, but if natural gas prices remain low, producers weighted toward gas may see a slowdown in full-year earnings, according to energy analysts. E&P 2Q2006 earnings announcements will begin in earnest within the next few days.