Hydro

Brazilian national oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) saw falling natural gas demand and the need for fewer LNG cargoes for the second consecutive quarter as rainfall continued to replenish the nation’s reservoirs. Natural gas demand dropped to 56 million cubic meters/day (MMm3/d) in the second quarter, compared to 83 MMm3/d in the same period…

Pennsylvania-based Keystone Clearwater Solutions LLC, a water management firm working in the Appalachian Basin, is again changing hands via an acquisition by SC Water LLC.

After weeks of softening for natural gas forwards, prices bounced back during the April 4-10 period as production remains down from earlier post-winter highs. May prices rose an average of 4 cents, while June rose a nickel, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Washington state regulators on Wednesday unanimously rejected the proposed $5.3 billion takeover of natural gas and power distributor Avista Corp. by Ontario-based utility Hydro One Ltd., saying the proposed acquisition does not serve the public interest. It was a unanimous 3-0 decision.

Demand for natural gas from power generators may approach record highs this summer, and reserve margins are expected to be adequate in most regions, but some familiar problems could make the Southern California and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) areas problematic, according to FERC data released Thursday.

Only two months after a privatization share sale, newly investor-controlled Ontario utility Hydro One Ltd. expanded Wednesday into the northwestern United States with a friendly takeover of Spokane, WA-based natural gas and power distributor Avista Corp.

Natural gas forwards prices rose across the curve from Feb. 24 to March 2 as bullish sentiment heading into the summer trumped bearish headwinds from a lamb-like early end of winter tied together with a surprise storage build.

A government-owned Canadian electricity exporter is making a C$350 million ($262 million) bet that the “clean” power movement in the United States will outlast the imminent pro-fossil fuels regime change in Washington, DC.

By 2016, the world will get more of its electricity from renewables — hydro, wind, solar, etc. — than from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) “Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report.” But in the Americas, particularly the United States, natural gas is still in the lead.