Exacerbated

“Persistent, scorching heat” in the eastern and central United States made last month the fourth warmest July on record nationally and exacerbated drought conditions in the South, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center.

Continuing schedule delays — exacerbated by a ruling by the Department of Transportation Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHSMA) that ended the use of a key vapor gas dispersion model — have prompted Crown Landing LLC to ask FERC for a one-year extension to revise a permit application for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Delaware River in Gloucester County, NJ.

Continuing schedule delays — exacerbated by a ruling by the Department of Transportation Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHSMA) that ended the use of a key vapor gas dispersion model — have prompted Crown Landing LLC to ask FERC for a one-year extension to revise a permit application for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Delaware River in Gloucester County, NJ.

With disappearing heating load and the previous day’s screen plunge exacerbated by the extra reduction of industrial demand associated with a long holiday weekend, cash prices tanked by more than a dollar — more than $2 in quite a few cases — across the board Friday.

Citing a tight gas supply that has been exacerbated by hurricane-induced Gulf of Mexico shut-ins, PECO said sharply higher wholesale market prices have led it to impose an “unavoidable” 26% rate increase for its suburban natural gas customers. The utility said the rate hike will take effect Dec. 1.

Amid deepening fears that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession, and exacerbated by light trading volume following a bomb threat at Nymex, natural gas futures tumbled to new 19-month lows Tuesday, as institutional traders increased their short exposure. Almost uniform selling was seen across the entire strip of contracts, pressuring the winter strip down 15 cents to $2.99 and the 12-month strip down 13 cents to $2.97. The October contract closed at $2.225, down 14.4 cents for the session.

In the midst of this week’s power alerts exacerbated byCalifornia’s shortage of electric generating capacity, theSacramento Municipal Utility District drew only three responses toa proposal put out for bids early in the summer to have a developerbuild, own and operate a natural gas-fired 500 to 1,000 MWgeneration plant on part of a 2,000-acre site owned by the nation’slargest municipal utility. The earliest the plant would beoperational would be in 2004.

In the midst of this week’s power alerts exacerbated byCalifornia’s shortage of electric generating capacity, theSacramento Municipal Utility District drew only three responses toa proposal put out for bids early in the summer to have a developerbuild, own and operate a natural gas-fired 500 to 1,000 MWgeneration plant on part of a 2,000-acre site owned by the nation’slargest municipal utility. The earliest the plant would beoperational would be in 2004.