Geographic

With a shared goal of fuel and geographic diversity among its dozen muni utility members, the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) plans to continue its thrust from last year, looking at locking in more natural gas supplies, renewable energy projects and new transmission lines in the southern half of California in 2007. In an interview with NGI last week, SCPPA Executive Director Bill Carnahan outlined a full plate for the joint powers authority that sports a solid “A”-level credit rating.

With a shared goal of fuel and geographic diversity among its dozen muni utility members, the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) plans to continue its thrust from last year, looking at locking in more natural gas supplies, renewable energy projects and new transmission lines in the southern half of California in 2007. In an interview with Power Market Today Tuesday, SCPPA Executive Director Bill Carnahan outlined a full plate for the joint powers authority that sports a solid “A”-level credit rating.

A new inventory of natural gas and oil on 99 million acres of federal land in 11 major geographic areas of the United States found that only 13% of the gas and 3% of the oil resources are recoverable under standard leasing terms, such as minimizing impacts on environmental and cultural resources.

A new inventory of natural gas and oil on 99 million acres of federal land in 11 major geographic areas of the United States found that only 13% of the gas and 3% of the oil resources are recoverable under standard leasing terms, such as minimizing impacts on environmental and cultural resources.

Up to 30 Gulf of Mexico (GOM) jack-up rigs will have been moved to international waters between late 2005 and early 2007 — a 25% capacity reduction in the GOM fleet in just over a year’s time — which will lead to domestic producers paying more and using more fixed contracts to tap into their reserves, Raymond James energy analysts noted in the latest “Stat of the Week.”

Although cold fronts or snow were in the Friday forecast for sections of all four main geographic regions of the U.S., the fact that unseasonably moderate conditions had returned to the overall weather picture carried the trading day Thursday and resulted in diving prices across the board. The screen’s prior-day plunge of nearly half a dollar and increasing comfort levels about storage put further downward pressure on cash quotes.

One thing is clear from Katrina’s devastation of the energy industry: the nation’s energy infrastructure is too concentrated in one small geographic region and consumers are paying dearly for it, more than 100 businesses, industrial companies, and gas industry representatives told Congress Thursday in a letter.

A strategic shift to move beyond California and only heavy oil production to a diverse geographic mix that included light oil and natural gas output boosted Berry Petroleum Co.’s 2004 production 24% in 2004, the company said Monday. Quarterly and year-end earnings also set records, with 4Q2004 net income up 169% to $25.3 million ($1.13/share), from 4Q2003’s $9.4 million (42 cents). Annual income rose 114% to $69.2 million ($3.08/share), compared with $32.4 million ($1.47) in 2003.

The dominant pipeline market in natural gas will always be regional, but companies’ strategic sights increasingly will be global, as the geographic dislocation of reserves to market is partly mitigated by new ways of linking stranded fields and customers, according to a report released on Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).