Included

Williams said it completed a $45 million gathering and processing system upgrade in Wamsutter, WY. The project included the addition of a third cryogenic gas processing unit at the Echo Springs natural gas plant, boosting capacity by about 140 MMcf/d to 390 MMcf/d and liquids extraction from 18,000 b/d to 28,000 b/d. Williams also expanded the pipeline gathering system that brings natural gas into the plant for processing. Capacity on the system was increased from 330 MMcf/d to roughly 400 MMcf/d.

It is a case of the missing e-mail alert that was being debated in local California news media Tuesday regarding whether or not the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility was alerted by the FBI last week concerning the potential threat to U.S. natural gas supplies and/or infrastructure as an outgrowth of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. The FBI said they sent an e-mail; Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. in Los Angeles said it never received it.

FERC is refusing to budge on several key points included in a market monitoring and mitigation plan for California’s sagging energy markets that was unveiled in April. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission re-emphasized its belief that it is important for the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) to ensure the presence of a creditworthy buyer for all transactions made with any generator that offers power in compliance with the rules set forth in the mitigation plan.

Duke Energy Oakland LLC is questioning whether generators should be bound by a “must-offer” obligation included in recent FERC price-mitigation orders if that compliance means that generators will have to run their generating units over and above what is allowed under the units’ air emissions permits.

Duke Energy Oakland LLC is questioning whether generators should be bound by a “must-offer” obligation included in recent FERC price-mitigation orders if that compliance means that generators will have to run their generating units over and above what is allowed under the units’ air emissions permits.

Because its initial open season period of Oct. 5 through Dec. 5included the Thanksgiving holidays, Dominion is extending thedeadline to Dec. 19 for its previously announced GreenbrierPipeline project in order to continue to gauge customer interest.

After marketing natural gas to Georgia customers for a littleless than a year, DukeSolutions, a unit of Duke Energy, has decidedto throw in the towel. The marketer, which only has firm contractswith 16 customers on the Atlanta Gas Light system, filed a petitionwith the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) to cancel its”Certificate of Authority” to provide natural gas marketingservices in Georgia.

In their sixth asset alliance, NRG Energy Inc. and Dynegy Inc.are expanding their co-owned generation portfolio in the westernUnited States by purchasing one power plant and buying most of thegenerating capacity of another plant from Nevada Power Co. for $634million. Minneapolis-based NRG will be operator and Houston-basedDynegy will serve as power marketer and fuel supplier.

The Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC)followed much of what it included in its draft approval in giving itsfinal approval last week on Consolidated Edison’s (CEI) acquisition ofNortheast Utilities (NU), and just like the draft approval, neithercompany was happy with the department’s findings (see Daily GPI, Sept. 26).