Failed

As many had expected, Thursday’s big gain in natural gas futures failed to hold up a day later as the October contract gave back nearly 30 cents on Friday. The prompt-month contract recorded an afternoon low of $2.937 before closing the day’s regular session at $2.960, down 29.6 cents from Thursday’s finish but 23.2 cents higher than the previous week’s close.

An expert witness for FERC last Tuesday came close to testifying that a former natural gas trader for failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC manipulated natural gas futures prices, but she never crossed that line.

An expert witness for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Tuesday came close to testifying that a former natural gas trader for failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC manipulated natural gas futures prices, but she never crossed that line.

The Astoria, OR, port commission failed to give Oregon LNG the 30-year state land lease it needs to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal on a 96-acre tract on the Skipanon Peninsula near the mouth of the Columbia River. Because of pending litigation and an investigation, company executives said they could not comment on the port action. Oregon LNG backers contend they already had a commitment for a 30-year lease with the Oregon Department of State Lands, but the five-member Astoria Port Commission, following four hours of discussion, voted unanimously to extend the existing lease by only two years. Oregon LNG filed an application last October with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, noting that it was staying on schedule and the extensive application demonstrated the project, originally conceived by a Calpine Corp. affiliate, was still feasible and should be approved (see Daily GPI, April 28). FERC formally accepted the application, and the project already has completed local land-use approvals, according to Oregon LNG CEO Peter Hansen, who helped launch the project at Calpine. The commissioners faced an Aug. 31 deadline to act on what they said was a “pass-through lease” of state land for Oregon LNG. The port leased the land from the state and in turn subleased it to the LNG developer. The five-year terms expire this year.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) entered into separate settlements requiring failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC and affiliates to pay a total of $7.5 million in penalties to settle two-year-old claims that they manipulated or attempted to manipulate natural gas futures prices.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) entered into separate settlements requiring failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC and affiliates to pay a total of $7.5 million in penalties to settle two-year-old claims that they manipulated or attempted to manipulate natural gas futures prices.

An estimated $10 billion of floating production systems (FPS) designed to explore offshore for oil and natural gas failed to materialize as the global economy began to derail last year, but a recovery in the sector should begin in 2010, energy consultant Douglas-Westwood said in a new report. Projects worth an estimated $46 billion total are forecast to begin ramping up through 2013. Africa, North America and Latin America are expected to take 59% of the forecast global FPS capital expenditures, with an estimated 121 FPS facilities expected to be installed worldwide through 2013. Brazil’s national oil company Petroleo Brasilerio (Petrobras) is expected to be the biggest spender. Last year Petrobras was given approval by the Minerals Management Service to develop the first floating production storage offloading (FPSO) facility in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (see NGI, May 5, 2008). The FPSO is to be built in the Cascade-Chinook area in the Walker Ridge region of the Lower Tertiary trend, which is 165 miles offshore Louisiana in 8,200 feet of water.

An estimated $10 billion of floating production systems (FPS) designed to explore offshore for oil and natural gas failed to materialize as the global economy began to derail last year, but a recovery in the sector should begin in 2010, energy consultant Douglas-Westwood said in a new report. Projects worth an estimated $46 billion total are forecast to begin ramping up through 2013.

Senate Democrats Wednesday failed to capture enough votes to move forward on the nomination of David Hayes to be deputy secretary of the Department of Interior.