Evolution

Evolution Midstream LLC said it has broken ground on its Jewell natural gas processing plant in Converse County, WY, in the heart of the Powder River Basin (PRB).

A well count “evolution” is taking place across the United States because the “cost of opportunity of drilling shale gas is growing,” said Societe Generale analysts in a note to clients.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. will be a natural gas-weighted producer for the foreseeable future, but in the coming years expect to see an evolution to liquids-rich plays, the company said this week.

The next three months will bring warmer-than-normal temperatures to much of the country and portions of the West may be especially warm, with only the Southeast expected to stay cooler than normal through November, according to a seasonal forecast from WSI Corp. of Andover, MA.

Tenaska Capital Management LLC (TCM) and Energy Spectrum Partners V LP said Monday they have formed and plan to jointly operate Frontier Gas Services LLC to acquire, develop, own and operate natural gas infrastructure primarily in the Midcontinent, Permian Basin, East Texas and unconventional shale plays across the United States. The partnership pledged “at least” $250 million to fund the development.

With a stated desire to “dominate the next evolution of the energy markets,” GFI Group Inc. earlier this month agreed to purchase Amerex Energy’s North American gas and power brokerage operations and assets for $86 million. New York-based GFI Group said the deal would help it become one of the largest and fastest growing energy businesses in North America.

By now it’s well clear to members of the natural gas industry that liquefied natural gas (LNG) is writing the next chapter in the industry’s evolution. The gas business has come a long way from the days of pipeline take-or-pay contracts and the moratorium on gas-fired power generation. It remains to be seen, though, how far “back to the future” LNG might take the industry.

As bandwidth trading moves from idea to reality, its evolution is looking more like the development of trading in the power and natural gas markets, according to Nick Cioll, senior vice-president for trading operations at RateXchange. Cioll spoke last Wednesday at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL. He was joined by Louis Hunsucker, a bandwidth trader with Williams Communications, on a panel called “The Complete Utility: Adding Broadband.”

As bandwidth trading moves from idea to reality, its evolution is looking more like the development of trading in the power and natural gas markets, according to Nick Cioll, senior vice-president for trading operations at RateXchange. Cioll spoke yesterday at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL. Cioll was joined by Louis Hunsucker, a bandwidth trader with Williams Communications, on a panel called “The Complete Utility: Adding Broadband.”