Feels

Over the last year or so hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has become a headline issue, and how one feels about it depends to a good degree on who one is. Generally though, as fracking garners more scrutiny the belief that it is worth doing hasn’t wavered much, a recent poll found.

Outgoing FERC Chairman Patrick Wood on Wednesday said that he feels “very comfortable that we will get the amount of gas we need in…North America,” an amount that a 2003 National Petroleum Council (NPC) report to the U.S. Secretary of Energy “said we’ve got to have” (see Daily GPI, Sept. 26, 2003).

The nation’s largest municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), feels secure in being able to avoid any negative impact from Wednesday’s federal decisions on pending California electricity crisis cases, and in hedging against the current and projected volatility in wholesale natural gas prices, according to General Manager David Wiggs in an interview Monday with NGI/Power Market Today.

The weekend is expected to give some relief to California’s “cold snap,” although by normal Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy, but by the standards of this state — even in winter — it’s been downright freezing in the nighttime and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.

The weekend was expected to give some relief to California’s cold snap, although by Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy. By the standards of California — even in winter — its been downright freezing in the night time and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.

Transco reported receiving gas with “slightly higher heating content in its mainline over the past week and feels this is the result of processing plants scaling back their operations due to poor economics.” It reminded producers and shippers on its system to ensure that processing arrangements are in place that will allow receipts to meet the pipeline’s merchantability requirements. Those specifications were outlined in a notice that was most recently reposted on July 27, 2001, Transco said.