Eyed

Perhaps offering a harbinger of some increased interest for natural gas exploration in California, a publicly held Los Angeles-based independent, Silver Star Energy, Inc., announced Tuesday it will drill a test well in part of the widespread, but mature, dry gas field in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California, between Stockton and Sacramento.

Perhaps offering a harbinger of some increased interest for natural gas exploration in California, a publicly held Los Angeles-based independent, Silver Star Energy, Inc., announced Tuesday it will drill a test well in part of the widespread, but mature, dry gas field in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California, between Stockton and Sacramento.

The potential hazard of re-activating the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility so near to a nuclear facility, which came under attack in the Senate last week, already has been reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a Williams spokeswoman said.

FERC Commissioner Nora Brownell suggested last Thursday that FERC join forces with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to determine what other data could be made available to the natural gas market on a regular basis to provide more transparency on prices.

FERC Commissioner Nora Brownell suggested Thursday that FERC join forces with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to determine what other data could be made available to the natural gas market on a regular basis to provide more transparency on prices.

Just days after Enron Corp. ended a bid to sell Portland General to Sierra Pacific Resources Corp. (see Daily GPI, April 27), Scottish Power Plc apparently decided to fling in an offer for the Oregon-based power utility. The West Coast utility would be fit geographically with Scot Power’s PacifiCorp, which is headquartered in Portland and operates in six U.S. states.

After about a year of nibbles, the Canadian industry isbeginning to bite on a new ocean transportation technology beingdevised to speed up exploitation of natural gas reserves at remotelocations, led by the country’s Atlantic reserves.

A new merchant natural gas storage field in a depleted gas fieldnortheast of Denver has obtained all of its state approvals and itsbackers anticipate construction will start early next year, withinitial start-up of the 9 Bcf working capacity to begin in thefourth quarter 2001. Backers have no signed contracts and arecurrently looking for customers, according to Mike Wright, one ofthe principals in Dallas-based Brant Energy, which is putting theproject together.

With the pressure of an exhaustive state regulatory review andscrutiny of its neighbors, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. says itis prepared to spend whatever it takes to make a 600 MW naturalgas-fired merchant power plant in its headquarters city a “model”for efficiency and environmental cleanliness among its growingfleet of gas-fired power plants nationally.