Felt

The Northern California Gas Authority (NCGA), a financing conduit for public power sector generators, has felt the domino effect of the Wall Street credit meltdown, being placed on “watch for a downgrade” of its “A1” credit rating last Thursday by Moody’s Investors Service, following the credit agency’s downgrade of Morgan Stanley. Some $758 million of series A and B 2007 bonds held by the gas authority are tied to Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street firms caught in the credit collapse.

Wall Street’s shake-up this month was felt in four western public sector utility natural gas financing deals where muni electric operations have tried to protect themselves against volatile and higher wholesale gas prices with long-term, prepaid supplies.

The moderate earthquake that shook a width swatch of Southern California inhabited by more than 20 million people last Tuesday was felt throughout the region, but did little or no significant damage to the area’s energy and other infrastructures. Local energy utilities reported scattered outages but no major impact on the electricity and natural gas infrastructure. Caltech seismology experts placed the quake’s magnitude at 5.4 on the Richter Scale. By comparison, the 6.7 magnitude Northridge event of January 2004 caused widespread death, injury and damage to infrastructure. The quake was centered in the eastern part of the San Gabriel Valley near the Chino Hills, which is about 20-25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and was described as a “shallow” temblor about seven miles below the earth’s surface. Southern California Edison Co., headquartered in Rosemead, CA, less than 15 miles from the presumed epicenter, reported scattered outages in about a half dozen communities closest to the quake’s center. Subsequently, Edison did report a fire in a La Habra substation that is within a few miles of the quake’s epicenter. Distribution problems were reported in the immediate Chino Hills-Pomona-Brea area in the far eastern end of Los Angeles County caused by the power lines swinging together and touching. At least one fire in a local distribution substation was also reported. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. reported no problems.

A moderate earthquake shook Southern California late Tuesday morning. It was felt throughout the region, but did little significant damage. Local energy utilities reported scattered outages but no major impact on the electricity and natural gas infrastructure.

High natural gas prices have struck again; this time it’s the second quarter earnings of AGL Resources Inc. where the pain will be felt. The company last Thursday warned that Q2 earnings would be hit by pre-tax hedging losses of $53-57 million, or 43-47 cents/share.

High natural gas prices have struck again; this time it’s the second quarter earnings of AGL Resources Inc. where the pain will be felt. The company Thursday warned that Q2 earnings would be hit by pre-tax hedging losses of $53-57 million, or 43-47 cents/share.

Higher costs for oil, natural gas and electricity are being felt by consumers across the board as companies are forced to pass on to customers the higher prices they pay for energy. In the chemicals and forest products industries, high energy commodity costs are reshaping company strategies, notes Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in a new report.

Prices fell Monday at a large majority of points as the physical market felt selling pressure from the previous Friday’s 36.2-cent dive by April futures and spring-like temperatures in much of the South. Wintry conditions with lows approaching freezing remained in the Tuesday forecasts for parts of the Upper Midwest and northern New England, but otherwise those regions could expect relatively moderate weather.

Economics in the western Canadian natural gas patch and the movement of increasingly more Rockies supplies east is being felt more in terms of wholesale price and supply pressures in the Pacific Northwest, according to Northwest Natural Gas Corp.’s CEO Mark Dodson. As a result, the need for siting a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the region is growing, he said during a 2007 earnings conference call Feb. 14.