Greater

Trunkline Gas Co. announced plans to expand its system to allow greater access to Texas gas storage fields, pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals. The North Texas Expansion will involve the construction of about 40 miles of 30-inch diameter pipeline along an existing right of way from the Kountze, TX, compressor station to the Longville, LA, compressor station. The expansion is expected to be in service in 2007.

A stand-alone, comprehensive natural gas bill offered in the Senate Wednesday that potentially could give producers greater access to offshore areas is of “historic significance,” said an official with a major industrial consumer group.

Residential natural gas customers should expect “upward pressure” on prices this upcoming winter due mostly to an expanding economy, potentially colder than normal weather and a tight balance between supply and demand, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said in its outlook for the 2004-2005 winter heating season that was released last Thursday.

Rising coal prices are unlikely to result in a greater reliance on gas-fired power generation, which would pressure gas prices even higher, a report by consulting firm Wood Mackenzie concludes.

Rising coal prices are unlikely to result in a greater reliance on gas-fired power generation, which would pressure gas prices even higher, a report by consulting firm Wood Mackenzie concludes.

A steady trend since Monday toward greater price softness was partially reversed Thursday. Most points were essentially flat or recorded small gains or losses of less than a nickel; the more volatile ones ranged from 20 cents higher to about 15 cents lower.

The screen slowed this week’s headlong plunge considerably Tuesday, but cash prices continued a meltdown of major proportions as winter weather support remains missing in action for the most part. Quotes fell by more than half a dollar across the board, with most declines exceeding 65 cents and a few points in the Northeast and Midcontinent/Midwest recording drops of a dollar or more.

The Bush administration “strongly supports” measures to provide greater regulatory certainty for transmission expansion, including provisions included in a House-passed energy bill providing for last-resort federal siting authority for high-priority transmission lines and the coordination and streamlining of transmission permitting activities across federal lands, a top Department of Energy (DOE) official told a Senate hearing last Wednesday.

Seeking greater transparency and consistency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) to revise accounting regulations for treatment of the retirement of tangible long-lived assets. The rule would provide a specific method of accounting for costs incurred in the retirement and removal of assets such as pipelines, power plants, buildings, etc., where there is a legal obligation to decommission and/or remove them. The NOPR would add new balance sheet and income statement accounts to the Uniform Systems of Accounts and revise the Commission’s annual report forms (1, 1-F, 2, 2-A, 6) to include the new accounts and revised schedules. The proposed effective date of the rule would be Jan. 1, 2003.