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The CEO of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) told energy analysts late Wednesday he remains “kind of a contrarian in the long run” when it comes to the current price of natural gas.

As the nation gears up for new leadership in Washington, natural gas and electricity companies find themselves in kind of a regulatory limbo as they await word on who will chair FERC in the Obama administration.

As the nation gears up for new leadership in Washington, natural gas and electricity companies find themselves in kind of a regulatory limbo as they await word on who will be FERC chairman in the Obama administration.

While December natural gas futures on Wednesday failed to match Tuesday’s nearly 40-cent gain, the contract also failed to mount any kind of retreat, leaving market bulls in control for the time being. December natural gas gained 3 cents on the day to finish at $7.249, while December crude gave back $5.23 of Tuesday’s gains to close at $65.30/bbl.

Desperate to produce some kind of energy legislation to take home to constituents during the August recess, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made another run at passage of a retreaded “use it or lose it” bill to restrict leasing on public lands Thursday, and lost.

Desperate to produce some kind of energy legislation to take home to constituents during the August recess, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made another run at passage of a retreaded “use it or lose it” bill to restrict leasing on public lands Thursday, and lost.

With energy futures prices spiking over the last few months, the U.S. oil and gas industry responded in kind as the number of rigs actively seeking new supplies jumped during February, according to the Baker Hughes Inc. rig count.

With energy futures prices spiking over the last few months, the U.S. oil and gas industry responded in kind as the number of rigs actively seeking new supplies jumped during February, according to the Baker Hughes Inc. rig count.

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Tahiti project, one of the largest platforms of its kind, will be delayed about a year because of defective shackles in the mooring system, according to project sponsor Chevron Corp. First production is now expected by 3Q2009; it was originally scheduled to ramp up by mid-2008. Estimated production is expected to be about 70 MMcf/d of gas and 125,000 b/d of oil. Construction of the massive project began in late 2005, but a contractor discovered the mooring system problems in June after finding a problem on a similar installation for another producer (see Daily GPI, June 29).