Flexibility

Northwest reminded shippers that as the end of its storage injection season (Sept. 30) nears, the pipeline’s flexibility “regarding banking or drafting is very restricted.” Both the Jackson Prairie storage facility and the Plymouth LNG facility are almost at full capacity, Northwest said. It noted that although it maintains storage space at Questar’s Clay Basin facility, Questar is allocating injections on a daily basis, “which limits Northwest’s ability to inject there as well.” Shippers were asked to “make every effort to keep nominated volumes in line with scheduled volumes in order to avoid banking or drafting.”

As he prepares to hand over the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman’s gavel to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) yesterday refused to completely reject the idea of placing caps on wholesale electricity prices in California. But, in an appearance before reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference on energy issues, the Alaska lawmaker also made it clear that he would first have to be assured that efforts to boost generation in the state would not be curtailed before he would consider the idea of a price cap on wholesale electricity prices in California.

Power suppliers need flexibility in securing supply arrangements and should be allowed to use risk management tools, including long-term contracts, other hedging tools and, if need be, ownership of generation, against the backdrop of state-level efforts to craft and successfully implement retail electricity restructuring plans, said the Edison Electric Insititute (EEI) in recent comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission.

Power suppliers need flexibility in securing supply arrangements and should be allowed to use risk management tools, including long-term contracts, other hedging tools and, if need be, ownership of generation, against the backdrop of state-level efforts to craft and succesfully implement retail electricity restructuring plans, said the Edison Electric Insititute (EEI) in recent comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission.

The cornerstones to build a sound energy supply and delivery foundation in the United States are flexibility, access to development, and coordinated energy policies, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates Chairman Daniel Yergin. Speaking at the National Energy Summit sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week, Yergin warned that the country could no longer take energy for granted, and echoed calls for a strong energy policy to guarantee economic growth.

The cornerstones to build a sound energy supply and deliveryfoundation in the United States are flexibility, access todevelopment, and coordinated energy policies, according toCambridge Energy Research Associates Chairman Daniel Yergin.Speaking at the National Energy Summit sponsored by the U.S.Chamber of Commerce this week, Yergin warned that the country couldno longer take energy for granted, and echoed calls for a strongenergy policy to guarantee economic growth.

Northwest continued to bar any on-system balancing or bankingMonday, saying its operational flexibility was “severely limited”by storage accounts being almost full.

More security. More electronic commerce solutions. Moreflexibility. Those are a few of the reasons that e-commerce leaderAltra Energy Technologies Inc. announced yesterday it will upgradeits Internet web-based services by using Extensible MarkupLanguage, or XML, to integrate its AltraWeb Product. XML is aprecise, cutting-edge version of its forerunner, hypertext markuplanguage (HTML), the basic language used to communicate on theWorld Wide Web.

Seeking greater operating flexibility in what is expected to bea more fluid California natural gas market following industryrestructuring, Occidental Petroleum has started work on a $9million, 12-mile, 16-inch gas pipeline out of Elk Hills to the eastof the massive reserve. It will interconnect with Pacific Gas andElectric’s transmission line swinging north from the Arizonaborder, providing the first interconnection between Four Cornerssupplies and PG&E when combined with earlier Elk Hillsconnection work done by Oxy.