Immediate

A senior producer has broken ranks with its peers to oppose any immediate toll increase on the principal natural gas pipeline from western Canada to the central provinces and export crossings into the MidWestern and Northeastern United States.

GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR) said it has branched out from its Haynesville/Bossier natural gas-directed properties, collecting about 67,724 net acres within the core horizontal oil development areas of the Bakken/Sanish-Three Forks Formation in the Williston Basin and the Niobrara Formation in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin.

An administrative law judge (ALJ) Thursday certified to FERC an uncontested settlement that would provide customers on Great Lakes Gas Transmission LP pipeline an immediate rate reduction.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday reiterated that its crackdown on greenhouse gases (GHG) will not be immediate and that the agency still plans on taking a phased-in approach.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday reiterated that its crackdown on greenhouse gases (GHG) will not be immediate and that the agency still plans on taking a phased-in approach.

It is a perfect storm of conflicting economic supply/demand winds in the North American natural gas markets that is fouling the immediate futures of many independent electric generators, and the credit ratings of some of the merchant power firms are suffering, according to an industry report released last Thursday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P), “U.S. Power Merchants Continue to Suffer from Low Natural Gas Prices.”

Lower natural gas prices have prompted Questar Gas to ask the Public Service Commission of Utah (PSC) to approve an immediate $50 million one-time rebate to its customers. If approved, the rebate will reduce the typical customer’s May natural gas bill by $40-45, Questar said. Twice a year Questar and the PSC use third-party forecasts of gas prices to estimate how much the utility’s rates should be adjusted to cover anticipated gas procurement costs. In November Questar cut gas rates by $63 million (5.3%); last month the utility cut rates another $157 million (16%). Citing the recession, Questar said it wanted to pass the lower fuel costs on to its customers ahead of the scheduled autumn rate adjustment.

Nationwide implementation of smart grid technology would have “a substantial and immediate impact” on the U.S. electricity system and deliver “immense environmental benefits” by reducing carbon emissions, according to CURRENT Group LLC CEO Tom Casey.

Major producers have asked FERC for an immediate injunction and expedited technical conference to bar Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) from carrying out hydrostatic testing on its line in September, a move that they say could shut in half of the Rockies natural gas flowing on the pipeline at the height of hurricane and storage injection seasons.