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In the wake of an Aug. 21, 2004 gas explosion in Sandy Township, PA, that destroyed a home and left two residents dead, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Thursday modified a previous $80,000 settlement with National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. (NFG), bumping it up to $150,000.

There’s no room left in the pipe, according to the partner backers of the Midcontinent Express Pipeline LLC (MEP) project, who said Wednesday their project is fully subscribed at its initial capacity of 1.4 Bcf/d.

In its first regular session as the front-month contract, May natural gas futures picked up where April left off — namely in search of higher price levels. The prompt-month contract reached a high of $9.830 before finishing the day at $9.800, up 11.3 cents from Thursday’s close and 66 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

Natural gas is being left out initially in California’s preliminary recommended auction for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions allowances as part of a proposed cap-and-trade system for lowering the energy sector’s carbon footprint in the state by 2020 under a climate change law’s mandate. However, there is no consensus on this or other issues, such as cost, treatment of public-sector utilities, and the needed safeguards and monitoring of the allowance trading market.

The Interior Department’s Inspector General’s (IG) Office is moving to establish a royalty oversight unit to ensure the adequate collection of revenues from oil and natural gas production on federal and Indian lands, IG Earl Devaney said Tuesday.

President Bush’s final “State of the Union” speech to the nation last Monday left out oil and natural gas altogether, but the president, in fact sheets released prior to the address, urged Congress to pass legislation during 2008 that provides greater access to domestic oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Alaska.

President Bush’s final “State of the Union” speech to the nation Monday night left out oil and natural gas altogether, but the president, in fact sheets released prior to the address, urged Congress to pass legislation that opens access to domestic oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Alaska.

Still unable to enjoy some early holiday cheer, a second Oregon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project was left waiting Thursday, but with some positive expectations it will clear another local hurdle in its permitting processes before Christmas. The Jordan Cove Energy Project LP at Coos Bay hopes to wrap up a second key local permit by Wednesday, its project manager told NGI late Thursday.

Picking up right where they left off late last week, January natural gas futures continued to scout lower price levels on Monday, even as winter storms simultaneously brought chilly temperatures to the Northeast and Northwest. The prompt-month contract touched a low of $7.060 in the regular session Monday before rebounding to close at $7.214, down 8.8 cents from Friday.