Greater

Looking beyond rate freezes and charges for strandedinvestments, California regulators last Thursday opened the doorfor greater retail electric price fluctuations in a decisionallowing the state’s three major investor-owned electric utilitiesto buy and sell some of their power outside the state-mandatednonprofit power exchange (Cal-PX).

Looking beyond rate freezes and charges for strandedinvestments, California regulators Thursday opened the door forgreater retail electric price fluctuations in a decision allowingthe state’s three major investor-owned electric utilities to buyand sell some of their power outside the state-mandated nonprofitpower exchange (Cal-PX).

A hotly protested Texas Gas Transmission rate proposal will besubject to increased regulatory and industry scrutiny in the comingmonths. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sided witha number of protesters in accepting and suspending the bulk of theproposed tariff changes until Nov. 1 subject to hearing andpotential refund.

A hotly protested Texas Gas Transmission rate proposal will besubject to increased regulatory and industry scrutiny in the comingmonths. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sided witha number of protesters in accepting and suspending the bulk of theproposed tariff changes until Nov. 1 subject to hearing andpotential refund. FERC also rejected Texas Gas’ postage stamp ratedesign for a new cutting-edge, short-term firm service and orderedthe pipeline come up with distance-based rates for the service. Inaddition, it ordered the pipeline to provide detailed explanationson a host of issues related to its new rate design within the next30 days.

This week’s power and gas crunch in California, driving pricesskyrocketing for both, provided a glimpse of what merchant storageoperators need to make their operations more profitable, accordingto the state’s first nonutility underground storage project, WildGoose Storage. More price volatility and closer tracking betweenelectricity and natural gas prices makes merchant storage morevaluable.

This week’s power and gas crunch in California, driving pricesskyrocketing for both, provided a glimpse of what merchant storageoperators need to make their operations more profitable, accordingto the state’s first nonutility underground storage project, WildGoose Storage. More price volatility and closer tracking betweenelectricity and natural gas prices makes merchant storage morevaluable.

An alliance with Canadian producer Canadian 88 Energy Corp. isgiving Duke Energy a greater presence in Canada and access to 100MMcf/d of gas production. Duke also will be optimizing Canadian 88gathering lines and about a dozen processing plants. Initially,Duke will be marketing about 100 MMcf/d of Canadian 88 production.

A coalition of pipeline customers has called on the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission to place greater focus on reformingthe existing ratemaking process, which it contends indulgesinterstate gas pipelines at the expense of their customers. Thepipelines wasted little time in delivering a counterpunch lastMonday.

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.