Faces

The key Alberta link in Canada’s Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project faces a fight to the finish, with a resistant aboriginal community straddling the entrance to the North American natural gas grid.

Despite its newly announced, widely praised settlement, Sempra Energy still faces four outstanding legal actions by the California Attorney General’s Office — three in the courts and one at FERC — and the AG’s spokesperson said Thursday the state law enforcement office plans to fully pursue all of the cases, alleging that California consumers are still due restitution for being “ripped off” during the 2000-2001 energy crisis by Sempra and some of its companies. Industry observers and regulators don’t think these outstanding lawsuits lessen the significant financial value of the settlement, and in addition they point to more than $1.5 billion in noncash value from the agreement for both the state and company.

Even with political alignment and the right economic metrics, the movement of Arctic natural gas to the Lower 48 states faces the challenge of pipe manufacturing limitations that should prevent the proposed Alaska and Canadian (Mackenzie Delta) pipeline projects being developed concurrently, a Houston-based Chevron executive told an industry audience in Los Angeles Wednesday.

The oil and natural gas industry faces a huge talent crunch in the next five years, with 50% of the industry workforce eligible to retire coupled with dwindling enrollment in undergraduate petroleum engineering programs. However, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer said that savvy companies should use growing energy information technology to bridge the generation gap and to secure an ample Web-based global workforce.

The oil and natural gas industry faces a huge talent crunch in the next five years, with 50% of the industry workforce eligible to retire coupled with dwindling enrollment in undergraduate petroleum engineering programs. However, the CEO of Microsoft Corp. said that savvy companies should use growing energy information technology to bridge the generation gap and to secure an ample Web-based global workforce.

While no one is putting a time estimate on it, the Australian resources giant BHP Billiton faces some detailed data requests from federal and state officials trying to put together a final draft environmental assessment of Billiton’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal offshore Oxnard, CA. The government agencies stopped the regulatory clock on the Cabrillo Offshore LNG project during the first week of the New Year.

With only two regularly scheduled meetings left before their six-year terms expire, two entrenched and embittered California regulators are not leaving quietly. This Thursday’s meeting is expected to see a continuation of the series of bitterly contested 3-2 splits with their three newer colleagues as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) wades through an agenda full of potentially controversial energy items.

With only two regularly scheduled meetings left before their six-year terms expire, two entrenched and embittered California regulators are not leaving quietly. This Thursday’s meeting is expected to see a continuation of the series of bitterly contested 3-2 splits with their three newer colleagues as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) wades through an agenda full of potentially controversial energy items.

The nation faces a number of negative conditions as the winter heating season begins: flat to negative natural gas production that is driving up prices, tight infrastructure capacity in certain regions (especially Northeast) and expected higher gas demand, FERC said in its “2004-05 Winter Energy Market Assessment,” which was released last Thursday.