Infrastructure

With one to two dozen new stations popping up annually in California, the opening of another compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for vehicles in Bakersfield, CA, earlier this month was not viewed as anything extraordinary by the industry, even in a period of record high wholesale natural gas prices.

With one to two dozen new stations popping up annually in California, the opening of another compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for vehicles in Bakersfield, CA, earlier this month was not viewed as anything extraordinary by the industry, even in a period of record high wholesale natural gas prices.

Gulf of Mexico producers and pipeline companies continued to make progress Tuesday repairing infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Ivan. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) said 22 companies reported that nine manned platforms and two rigs were still evacuated and 1,735.8 MMcf/d of gas and 453,092 bbl/d of oil were still shut in. Cumulative production shut-ins now stand at 67.861 Bcf of gas and 15.3 million bbl of oil.

El Paso Corp. and DKRW Energy LLC jointly agreed Thursday to develop up to 350 miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure within Sonora, Mexico by 2008. The pipelines, to be built by subsidiaries El Paso Blue Atlantic US Inc. and Sonora Pacific Mexico, will transport gas provided by DKRW’s planned Sonora Pacific LNG, a 1.3 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Puerto Libertad on the Gulf of California.

El Paso Corp. and DKRW Energy LLC jointly agreed Thursday to develop up to 350 miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure within Sonora, Mexico by 2008. The pipelines, to be built by subsidiaries El Paso Blue Atlantic US Inc. and Sonora Pacific Mexico, will transport gas provided by DKRW’s planned Sonora Pacific LNG, a 1.3 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Puerto Libertad on the Gulf of California.

Increased interstate pipeline capacity, new storage capacity and other in-state natural gas infrastructure upgrades are just some of the possibilities outlined for the California gas market between now and 2006, according to panel assembled Tuesday at the first day of a two-day workshop in San Francisco examining “Natural Gas Market Outlook, 2006-2016.” The workshop was co-sponsored by the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Increased interstate pipeline capacity, new storage capacity and other in-state natural gas infrastructure upgrades are just some of the possibilities outlined for the California gas market between now and 2006, according to panel assembled Tuesday at the first day of FERC’s two-day workshop in San Francisco examining “Natural Gas Market Outlook, 2006-2016.”

South Jersey Industries Inc.’s gas unit, South Jersey Gas, has petitioned the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to increase its base rates to cover infrastructure improvements and higher health care and pension benefits. The utility has requested a $42.7 million, or 8.7%, increase in operating revenue, which would increase base rates by $52.7 million. The request also includes a proposed credit to reduce a gas supply service clause by $7.8 million. Under the proposed hike, a typical residential bill would be $23.15 in the winter, however, South Jersey said customer bills are expected to decrease over the next year after the completion of customer payments to cover historical gas costs. The net effect of the price hike will typically increase customers’ monthly bills by $12.34, or 4.5%, the company said. Rate hike requests generally take about one year to be processed, and the higher prices would most likely not take effect until late in 2004. If natural gas prices go down over the year, South Jersey said it will decrease a portion of its request.

“I think we are at the critical moment in the development of our energy markets and energy infrastructure for the future economy of this country,” FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell said last week. “This is an economy made competitive in part by its access to cheap and reliable power.”