California’s chief energy regulator, at a critical juncture in ayear-long study of the state natural gas industry’s marketconditions, says he is not sure he will support extensiveunbundling or divestiture on the gas side.
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Prices Soar in East; Western Upticks Moderate
Traders who had been pleading for more market volatility duringa long period of relatively little price movement got it in spadesMonday-at least the ones who deal in eastern markets did. Numbersin the East rose by anywhere from 10 to 20 cents, with many pointsup by 15 cents or more. Western increases were considerably moresubdued; many were only a nickel or so, with San Juan Basin’suptick of about a dime leading the region.
DOE Electric Bill Destined For Congress in March
The Department of Energy (DOE) said last week that it plans tosend the long-awaited Clinton administration’s legislation onretail choice for electricity customers to Capitol Hill in thelatter half of March.
Christmas Break Fails to Stanch Price Bleeding
Traders returned Monday from a long holiday weekend to find thecash market about as weak or even weaker than it had been prior toChristmas, depending upon the market area. A warming trend andsofter futures were cited as reasons. The Gulf Coast, last week’sbargain basement region for gas, was only dropping a nickel to adime. But Western points, which had been riding high on the basisof having the nation’s chilliest weather, fell anywhere from about20 cents (PG&E citygate) to as much as 50 cents (Stanfield).
Residential Gas Users Can Become Self-Generators
It won’t be long before natural gas users will be able togenerate their own electricity at home, according to Plug Power,which announced that it has completed the successful demonstrationof a natural gas-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cellsystem. The residential- sized system-which includes a fuel cellstack, power conditioner and a Johnson Matthey fuelprocessor-produced in excess of 4 kW of electricity this week atthe company’s upstate New York development facility.
New Dives Ignite Worries of Sub-$1 Weekend Gas
It didn’t take long to eclipse what had been the lowest-everprices for a December date recorded by Daily GPI, and the new lowmarks weren’t even close to the ones seen earlier in the week.Continuing record warmth in the eastern two-thirds of the nationyielded record low gas prices for this time of year. Gulf Coastnumbers were almost a dollar under December indexes only three daysinto the month.
NY Users Prefer Utility in Unbundled Market, BU Says
The majority of Brooklyn Union Gas’ (BU) residential gascustomers in New York City and Long Island said they want to keeptheir existing utility as a provider in a competitive retail marketor at least have it offered as an option, according to the resultsof market research conducted for parent KeySpan Energy. Thefindings, which reveal a continuing customer connection to LDCs,fly in the face of the New York Public Service Commission’sdirective ordering all utilities to exit the merchant gas role.
Weekend Prices Ease Back from Long Climb
The cash market took a bit of a breather Friday from the uphillclimb that began last Tuesday. Weekend quotes ranged from minimallyhigher to nearly a dime lower, with most of the softnessconcentrated in the Midcontinent, Midwest citygates, Southwestbasins, northern and southern California borders and intra-Alberta.
Aquila Energy Sells Long-Term to Munis
In a type of deal that is becoming increasingly popular amongmarketers selling to public entities, Aquila Energy has signed tosupply 91 Bcf over 12 years to municipal members of the NebraskaPublic Gas Agency for an advance payment of $162 million.
Offshore Rig Rates Falling Fast on Soft Prices
It wasn’t long ago that producers bemoaned sky-high offshore rigday rates and said a turnaround in climbing rates was needed toprevent harm to the industry. Well, that turnaround seems to beunderway.