Gas

A veteran researcher at the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) is urging state regulators and utility managers to pay more attention to “lost” natural gas, both from a safety standpoint and because of costs.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and MarkWest Utica EMG LLC (MarkWest Utica) are putting up a $2 billion y-grade natural gas liquids (NGL) processing and transportation combo project that competes with the Bluegrass Pipeline, which has been proposed by Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Williams.

U.S. oil and natural gas mergers and acquisition activity (M&A) plunged in the second quarter from the first three months of 2012, with divestitures driving activity, according to PwC US.

Spectra Energy Inc. recently struck contracts to underpin three major pipeline projects, moving $3 billion worth of investment opportunities into the execution column, a third brand-new pipeline to serve the Florida market among them.

Princeton, NJ-basedNRG Energy Inc. said Friday it has begun commercial operations of its repowered 550 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plant at El Segundo, CA. The El Segundo Energy Center includes fast-start capability, allowing the plant to deliver more than half of its capacity in 10 minutes of start-up time and the balance in less than an hour. The new facility meets the state’s and the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s air quality standards, and it will use 30% less gas per megawatt than the original steam boilers at the site.

Given the projected demand in the heavy-duty, long-haul trucking sector, U.S. capacity for producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for transportation will need to accelerate rapidly to build up to 90 new small-scale LNG production facilities with a collective capital investment of up to $3.6 billion, a Pace Global consultant said last week.

Demand between now and 2015 will prop up natural gas prices, even with a backlog of drilled wells awaiting connection, and from 2016 to 2018 a “dramatic structural increase” in demand could outpace supply additions and send gas prices to as high as $6.00/MMBtu, BNP Paribas’ Teri Viswanath, director of commodity strategy, said last Friday.

The six participating planning authorities of the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC) — ISO New England, New York ISO, Ontario’s Independent Electric System Operator, Midcontinent ISO, PJM Interconnection and the Tennessee Valley Authority — have issued a request for proposals (RFP) to conduct an analysis of natural gas infrastructure and its interfaces with the electric grid within their combined footprints.

The Texas Petro Index (TPI), an indicator of upstream oil and gas activity in Texas, increased modestly but steadily during the first half of the year, beginning July a scant 1.2% from matching the peak index achieved nearly five years ago, according to data released last week.