Losing

With only one official North Slope gasline proposal to consider and many questions yet to be answered, at least one Alaska lawmaker is losing faith in the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) process, he told NGI last week.

In a steadily growing world natural gas market, U.S. buyers are losing out because of their unwillingness to sign long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG), while buyers in other importing nations are locking in capacity, FERC Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said in opening the Commission’s “State of the Natural Gas Industry Conference” Tuesday.

Avista Corp.’s outgoing CEO is resigned to the fact that 2007 will be a “repositioning” year for the company, which sold its money-losing energy marketing/trading unit and saw its utility operations hindered by a combination of adverse weather and regulatory lag impacts. Nevertheless, the Spokane, WA-based company reported profits for the second quarter of $14.2 million, or 26 cents/diluted share, compared with $13.5 million, or 27 cents/diluted share, for the same period last year.

It’s official and in writing. The Canadian government does not want to own a northern pipeline — and especially not one with a serious enough risk of losing money to make private investors hesitate.

Natural gas futures put in another losing performance Tuesday, much to the delight of the bears, but the activity was on low volume and traders noted little aggressive selling.

It’s official and in writing. The Canadian government does not want to own a northern pipeline — and especially not one with a serious enough risk of losing money to make private investors hesitate.

Despite modest prior-day support from futures, the cash market was losing enough heating load to moderating weather trends in several areas to cause lower prices at most points Friday. The drop of industrial load that accompanies weekend flows also contributed to the overall softness.

In the 2012-2015 time frame, liquefied natural gas (LNG) makes sense for the Pacific Northwest, which could be losing Canadian and U.S. Rockies supplies by then, according to a developer of a proposed Oregon LNG receiving terminal. And the prices of LNG supplies will be very attractive, NorthernStar Natural Gas CEO Paul Soanes said at an energy conference Thursday in Seattle.

Looking to return what’s left of clients’ money after losing in excess of $6 billion on wrong-way natural gas bets during September, Amaranth Advisors LLC has hired Fortress Investment Group LLC to help sell its hedge-fund holdings, according to Associated Press reports. As part of the fallout, calls for the regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) market and of hedge funds continue.