Install

Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. (MichCon) Thursday announced a two-year project to install a new gas pipeline in West Michigan that will increase supplies and help meet future demand spurred by residential and business growth.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released new requirements last Thursday that futures exchanges install “public” directors — excluding exchange members, employees and officers — to their boards and disciplinary panels and create new regulatory oversight committees made up entirely of public directors.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released new requirements Thursday that futures exchanges install “public” directors — excluding exchange members, employees and officers — to their boards and disciplinary panels and to create new regulatory oversight committees made up entirely of public directors.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which serves 3.4 million California consumers using 1.3 million electric meters and more than 825,000 natural gas meters, has filed an updated proposal to install advanced meters for all of its customers by 2010.

FERC on Monday issued a certificate to CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission to expand the working gas capacity and deliverability of its storage facility in Oklahoma.

Equitable Gas Co. said it will install 260,000 electronic meter reading devices in its southwestern Pennsylvania utility service territory to gain efficiencies and cut long-term service costs. The implementation and installation process will begin later this month and will be completed by September 2006.

Louis Dreyfus Energy Services announced plans to install up to 80 MMcf/d of gathering pipeline this year to serve the southern Barnett Shale play in North Texas. The company said Tuesday the project could lead to construction of a large-diameter pipeline should the region’s gas development increase substantially. Louis Dreyfus has nearly completed the initial 20 MMcf/d phase of the new gas gathering and processing system in Eastland, Erath, Bosque and Hill counties, TX. The gathering system will be expanded later this year to 40-80 MMcf/d. The project consists of converting existing pipeline capacity to natural gas in a corridor from Taylor to Navarro Counties with the capability to move gas both east and west. Louis Dreyfus Energy Services and its subsidiaries plan to put additional capacity in service as the region develops. Louis Dreyfus Energy Services also owns a 20% stake in the 850 MMcf/d Sea Robin gas processing plant; a 1,400-mile NGL pipeline from the Permian Basin to a storage facility in Hull, TX; a 4.5-million-barrel propane/butane storage and terminal facility in Hattiesburg, MS; and a 50% interest in Mont Belvieu Storage Partners, among other assets.

Transwestern will install equipment early next month along its San Juan Lateral from Ignacio, CO to the Blanco (NM) Hub and from Blanco to Thoreau, NM to ensure continued system reliability. The work will reduce lateral flow to zero in both segments April 3-7. Ignacio-Blanco will be restored to its normal 716,000 MMBtu/d on April 8, while Blanco-Thoreau will be raised to 800,000 MMBtu/d April 8-14 and restored to its normal 860,000 MMBtu/d April 15.

TradeSpark LP signed an agreement last week with Virtual Markets Assurance Corp. (VMAC) to offer VMAC’s unique (patent pending) credit transfer and netting system to energy marketers on its trading platform to work around creditworthiness problems and enable trading of illiquid commodities such as electricity and physical natural gas.