Indicated

Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) indicated last week as it launched an open season that it is seeking market support of its plan to increase capacity on a pipeline to potentially benefit more of New England and Atlantic Canada customers.

Launching an open season, Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) indicated Monday that it is seeking market support of its plan to increase capacity on a pipeline to potentially benefit more of New England and Atlantic Canada customers.

The top executives that own and operate the idle San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) in Southern California indicated in separate conference calls on Tuesday that the plant’s fate remains uncertain, along with the 2,200 MW associated with it, which puts uncertainty into the state’s summer energy plans.

Analysts are keeping an eye on costs and production results from the still-emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), but Amelia Resources LLC is going “100 mph” to market 47,300 net acres in the play, which management believes may hold a resource potential of more than 1 billion bbl.

Republican leaders in the Ohio General Assembly indicated that they will give some consideration to Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to impose new severance taxes on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and natural gas liquids (NGL) in 2013, after declining to do so in 2012.

Preliminary draft rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) were unveiled Tuesday by California’s state oil and natural gas drilling regulators who indicated the development process will take at least all of next year.

Two of the top women energy lawmakers in the Senate indicated Wednesday that the long-awaited second part of a Department of Energy report on the economic impact of exporting domestically produced natural gas will likely be released before the end of the year, and that the results will be favorable to industry. One called on Congress to express its support for gas exports.

California’s electricity grid operator last week indicated it was making plans for a long-term loss of the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs), which is now in its eighth month out of service with no prospects for a resumption of operations.

The fourth iteration of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) biannual production report issued last week indicated that natural gas production from unconventional wells totaled 894.8 Bcf during the first six months of this year, a figure that includes Marcellus Shale wells along with some targeting the Utica Shale and other formations. Operators also reported producing 672,550 bbl of condensate and 49,194 bbl of oil from January through June.