Limiting

Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) shippers have accused Northern Natural Gas of limiting access to receipt point capacity at the interconnection between the REX and Northern Natural systems to REX shippers that agree to purchase a “phantom backhaul service.”

In an Operational Alert, CenterPoint said Saturday it was limiting delivery capacity at Columbia Gulf/Perryville (South) in northeast Louisiana to 250,000 Dth/d until further notice due to unscheduled maintenance at Delhi Compressor Station. CenterPoint anticipates that no IT capacity will be available at the point and, to the extent necessary, firm delivery nominations will be reduced and scheduled in accordance with the pipeline’s tariff. Shippers will be allowed to transport to non-Columbia Gulf/Perryville (South) secondary points in the Perryville Hub.

The “likely trajectory” of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports through 2011 essentially matches the “probable” growth in natural gas-fired power generation, energy analyst John Gerdes said in a recent report. The need, he wrote, to reduce industrial demand given the limited supply should underpin at least an $8/MMBtu average gas price after 2006.

The American Public Gas Association (APGA), several power sector groups and other parties this week collectively criticized FERC’s plan to use the “public interest” standard as the default standard of review for energy contract modifications. APGA and the others said this approach “flies in the face of the plain language” of the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Natural Gas Act (NGA) [RM05-35].

In the absence of a real comprehensive national energy policy, and with important policy decisions in California and British Columbia limiting options, the West will become even more dependent on natural gas in the next 10 years, according to Eric Markell, senior vice president at Puget Sound Energy (PSE). He thinks the region has no other choice.

After stirring up a flap among a newly elected combination of regulators, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) on Thursday rescinded a mandatory prohibition against one of its five members facing criminal charges, replacing it with a softer resolution that would make it voluntary for any member who is a criminal or civil defendant to recuse themselves from votes on internal personnel and administrative matters at the commission.

Southern California Gas declared an OFO for Saturday’s Timely Cycle, limiting deliveries into its system to 110% of a customer’s expected usage.

Canada’s arctic gas production and pipeline consortium won a battle last week to stay on schedule by limiting environmental reviews of the C$5-billion (US$3.7-billion) pipeline project. Authorities in Ottawa and the Northwest Territories turned down demands by conservationists to include an analysis of broad environmental effects of the project’s development.

Limiting the price rebound to just one day, natural gas futures sifted lower ahead of the weekend Friday as trade selling overcame an optimistic opening print. The June contract was the hardest hit, slipping 7 cents on the day and 21.5 cents for the week to close at $4.278.