Jolted

Devastating storms in the third quarter jolted the energy markets and sent natural gas prices soaring, but despite the upheaval in prices and the continuing entry of new investment bankers into the marketplace, natural gas trading in North America continues to stabilize and grow, up an estimated 4%, to 96.45 Bcf/d from 92.81 Bcf/d a year ago, according to NGI’s latest gas marketer survey.

An early-morning explosion that jolted Duke Energy’s Moss Bluff underground salt cavern storage facility last Thursday in Liberty County, TX, took a turn for the worse in the pre-dawn hours Friday when an above-ground valve structure failed, causing a larger release of natural gas that shot flames 1,000 feet into the sky.

Nearing the 10-year anniversary of the Northridge earthquake that jolted the Los Angeles metropolitan area awake in the still-dark early morning hours of Jan. 17, 1994, one of the major utilities impacted, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co., looked back Tuesday over how its largest-in-the-nation gas infrastructure has been upgraded over the past decade.

While continuing to be a rare island of financial strength and stability in turbulent energy times, San Diego-based Sempra Energy, faces some large financings and increased risks because of the “California effect” on power market deals, difficulties in energy trading and problems with some South American distribution utility ventures, according to a report issued Tuesday by CreditSights, a London-based independent financial analysis firm.

While continuing to be a rare island of financial strength and stability in turbulent energy times, San Diego-based Sempra Energy, faces some large financings and increased risks because of the “California effect” on power market deals, difficulties in energy trading and problems with some South American distribution utility ventures, according to a report issued Tuesday by CreditSights, a London-based independent financial analysis firm.