Fuel

The U.S. onshore natural gas industry is helping to fuel recent gains in domestic manufacturing, the White House said in a report Wednesday.

The White House on Wednesday credited the U.S. natural gas industry with helping to fuel recent gains in domestic manufacturing.

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp.’s Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power utility said it has filed with the Wyoming Public Service Commission to recover natural gas and electric infrastructure costs with its first general rate increase request since 2008. The company seeks annual increases of $2.6 million, or 6.7%, for gas utility customers and $5.9 million, or 5.9%, for power consumers. The combination utility also is seeking a 10.9% authorized return on equity and a 54-46% equity-to-debt ratio as part of the rate request to be effective April 1 next year. Residential customers using both electricity and gas would face a combined average monthly utility bill increase of close to $10 ($5.14/month for gas and $4.33/month for electricity). Cheyenne Light serves 34,600 gas customers and 39,600 electric customers.

Northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale producers got some relief from sagging prices when El Paso Corp.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. placed its long-awaited 300 Line forward-haul expansion in service, increasing capacity on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system by 350 MMcf/d, a nearly 50% boost.

While the Marcellus Shale continues to drive growth for National Fuel Gas (NFG) Co., the Williamsville, NY-based company is now offering details on its short-term plans for the Upper Devonian/Geneseo and the Utica shales, the company told analysts recently.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) will continue to go it alone in the Marcellus Shale, the company said during a quarterly earnings call last Friday.

With the boom in shale gas production, an oversupply of natural gas is likely to outstrip demand for the fuel and keep prices under the $5 level, Colorado-based Bentek CEO Porter Bennett told the gas committee Monday at the summer meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Los Angeles.

A majority of executives and managers from utilities and other industry organizations say natural gas is the most “environmentally friendly” fuel, according to a survey conducted by Black & Veatch.

A majority of executives and managers from utilities and other industry organizations say natural gas is the most “environmentally friendly” fuel, according to a survey conducted by Black & Veatch.