Experts

The experts disagree on how much recoverable gas there is in the Rocky Mountains, but economists, E&P and pipeline executives working in the area do agree it is “under explored and under exploited,” with extremely complex geology requiring new technologies that are continuously under development, as well as increased land access and investment in infrastructure.

The experts disagree on how much recoverable gas there is in the Rocky Mountains, but economists and E&P and pipeline executives working in the area do agree it is “under explored and under exploited,” with extremely complex geology requiring new technologies that are continuously under development, as well as increased land access and investment in infrastructure.

A University of Houston energy expert told a House panel last Thursday that Congress needs to consider lifting the 20-year-old moratoria on oil and natural as drilling on federal offshore areas as it seeks to avert a potential crisis in the gas markets in the months ahead. The tight gas supplies, expanding demand and above-normal prices are not temporary market aberrations, but are here to stay for a while, lawmakers were warned.

A University of Houston energy expert told a House panel Thursday that Congress needs to consider lifting the 20-year-old moratoria on oil and gas drilling on federal offshore areas as it seeks to avert a potential crisis in the gas markets in the months ahead. The tight gas supplies, expanding demand and above-normal prices are not temporary market aberrations, but are here to stay for a while, lawmakers were warned.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been steadily moving away from light-handed regulation “to the other end of the spectrum with much heavier regulation. This is reflective of the public distrust of the energy market,” Carl Levander, vice president of NiSource’s Columbia pipelines, told attendees at the LDC Forum last week.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been steadily moving way from light-handed regulation “to the other end of the spectrum with much heavier regulation. This is reflective of the public distrust of the energy market,” Carl Levander, vice president of NiSource’s Columbia pipelines, told attendees at the LDC Forum earlier this week.

Hurricane experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week that they expect the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season to have above normal levels of activity, which supports an earlier forecast by Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University (see NGI, April 7).

Hurricane experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday that they expect the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season to have above normal levels of activity, which supports an earlier forecast by Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University (see Daily GPI, April 7).

Few if any market observers a month ago predicted near-month futures prices would be approaching $3.50/MMBtu in March given the large surplus of natural gas in the nation’s storage fields and the weak economy. But it happened, and now consultants and analysts are battling over which path prices will take in the next few months. In one corner, Houston-based Simmons & Company International believes the puzzling spurt in natural gas prices is over, while in the other corner analysts at Raymond James & Associates say it’s here to stay.