Landmark

When the sponsors of the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) began to lay out their plans for the landmark natural gas pipeline, they locked in certain costs, including steel and labor, for the first half of the project. However, “that type of hedging is not available in today’s cost environment,” Sempra Energy CEO Donald Felsinger said. “The key point is that the Rockies Express or any similar pipeline couldn’t be duplicated at the same price.”

Long-suffering Rockies producers are seeing the light at the end of the basis tunnel as the landmark Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) wends its way eastward. But what the industry has yet to open its eyes to is the trouble brewing down South, says an industry analyst.

Long-suffering Rockies producers are seeing the light at the end of the basis tunnel as the landmark Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) wends its way eastward. But what the industry has yet to open its eyes to is the trouble brewing down South, says an industry analyst.

Natural gas production began moving through the landmark Independence Hub in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday from the first of 15 subsea wells in 10 anchor fields. Producers said they expect to bring production up to the hub’s 1 Bcf/d capacity by late 2007.

Would-be importers overcame a challenge by the Alberta government to win a landmark victory in opening eastern Canada to offshore cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with rolled-in tolls for connections to the new supplies. The National Energy Board cited the growing aggregate demand of all shippers combined with the expected decline of supplies from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin as driving its decision.

Natural gas production began moving through the landmark Independence Hub in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday from the first of 15 subsea wells in 10 anchor fields. Producers said they expect to bring production up to the hub’s 1 Bcf/d capacity by late 2007.

Would-be importers overcame a challenge by the Alberta government to win a landmark victory in opening eastern Canada to offshore cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with rolled-in tolls for connections to the new supplies. The National Energy Board cited the growing aggregate demand of all shippers combined with the expected decline of supplies from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin as driving its decision.

FERC last Thursday finalized landmark new rules on the certification of an electric reliability organization (ERO) and the procedures for the establishment, approval and enforcement of mandatory electric reliability standards. But Commissioners, at a special open meeting, underscored the point that their work is far from over, with consideration of an ERO application waiting in the wings. Over the long haul, FERC will work to ensure that reliability standards are effectively enforced.

FERC should not only refashion its test for when to assert jurisdiction over offshore natural gas gathering lines to protect against monopoly abuse, but it should “take actions [in advance] that ensure that the need to subsequently reassert jurisdiction is no longer required or, at least, rarely occurs,” the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said this week.