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In a long-awaited rehearing order on its negotiated-rate policy, FERC on Thursday signaled its willingness to allow interstate natural gas pipelines to enter into negotiated-rate transactions with shippers that reference “basis,” or the difference between natural gas price indexes at two market locations.

Having lost its chief financial officer (CFO) who left to enter a new industry in Pennsylvania, Albuquerque, NM-based PNM Resources Monday said it reached into the public power sector for a new CFO, naming Charles N. Eldred to that position. Eldred, 52, comes from Omaha (NE) Public Power District, where he has been CFO since 1999.

The Uncle John semi-submersible drilling vessel will enter the Gulf of Mexico later this month to embark on a 35-day mission to test drilling through methane hydrates with two pairs of deep wells. Methane hydrate, which is called the “ice that burns” because it releases a flammable gas when it melts, may represent up to 200,000 Tcf of natural gas, according to the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy. But the industry is years away from understanding how to tap the resource.

The Uncle John semi-submersible drilling vessel will enter the Gulf of Mexico later this month to embark on a 35-day mission to map out methane hydrates with two pairs of deep wells. Methane hydrate, which is called the “ice that burns” because it releases a flammable gas when it melts, may represent up to 200,000 Tcf of natural gas, according to the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy.

The next Alberta oilsands mega-mine, the first to enter construction since energy prices have gone to a new plateau, aims to respond to the expensive new energy market realities by cutting about 40% off the industry average consumption of natural gas to produce synthetic crude oil.

The next Alberta oilsands mega-mine, the first to enter construction since energy prices have gone to a new plateau, aims to respond to the expensive new energy market realities by cutting about 40% off the industry average consumption of natural gas to produce synthetic crude oil.

Working gas levels in storage currently are more than 3.2 Tcf and should enter the heating season at record highs, but pricing differentials indicate that storage capacity may be becoming inadequate to handle a colder-than-normal winter, EnCana Corp. told FERC last week.

Gas storage levels could enter the winter heating season at record highs, but EnCana Corp. told FERC this week that high price differentials between injection and withdrawal season months show that the gas market is demanding that even more storage capacity be added to the marketplace. There are indications that storage capacity may be becoming inadequate to handle a colder-than-normal winter, EnCana said.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. muscled its way into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market Thursday with the purchase of Access Northeast Energy Inc. (ANEI), a private Canadian company whose sole project is a proposed LNG receiving terminal on the coast of Nova Scotia.