Heat

After spending big in the nation’s gas shale patch — and taking some heat for it — Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey K. McClendon said Thursday it is time for the company to reap what it has sown in announcing the Oklahoma City-based producer’s plans for this year and next.

Federal and state authorities last week turned up the heat in parallel but separate investigations and reviews of the Sept. 9 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline explosion and fire, and the utility in the middle, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), moved ahead with stepped up pipeline safety checks and operating/maintenance plans.

Only a couple of Western Canadian points where temperatures were staying fairly mild got left out of heat-driven gains at all other locations Monday. The previous Friday’s advance of 9.6 cents by September futures gave an added boost to the cash market.

Heat levels would keep reaching the low 90s to 110 area Tuesday in the southern third of the U.S., but that failed to keep the weekend’s price gains going Monday. Otherwise, peak temperatures were forecast to be limited to the 80s in most other areas outside the south end of the Northeast.

Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) last Wednesday unveiled long-awaited legislation that seeks to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the measure isn’t likely to make significant headway this year given that the chamber’s already-packed agenda which includes consideration of a new Supreme Court nominee.

Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) Wednesday unveiled long-awaited legislation that seeks to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the measure isn’t likely to make significant headway this year given that the chamber’s already-packed agenda and the multiple congressional investigations into the massive Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill have overshadowed it.

Pacific Gas and Electric ended a high-inventory OFO on its California Gas Transmission system Sunday after a two-day run.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Tuesday finalized regulations that require the mandatory reporting of heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by major polluters beginning in the first quarter of 2011.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday finalized regulations that require the mandatory reporting of heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by major polluters beginning in the first quarter of 2011.