Maine

A natural gas utility’s plans to convert 3,000 homes and businesses in Maine to natural gas ran into a snag because many heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors are unfamiliar with the options available to new natural gas customers.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline LLC (TGP) is offering the state of Maine a 20-year capacity deal on its proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) expansion that it says will drive down Mainers’ natural gas and electricity costs. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has questioned the need for the project in a regulatory filing.

Summit Natural gas of Maine has made the final connection for its 68-mile steel backbone natural gas transmission pipeline between Pittston, ME, and Madison, ME, a key step in the company’s plans to distribute gas to 17 communities in central Maine.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage is urging legislators to tackle the state’s energy challenges, with an emphasis on lowering residential heating bills, and natural gas, which has found Maine a hard market to crack.

Summit Natural Gas of Maine announced Monday its plan to go forward with a $110 million expansion next year that will extend natural gas service to the towns of Cumberland, Falmouth and Yarmouth — all near Portland, ME. in the southern part of the state.

Maine’sBureau of General Services (BGS) has selectedMaine Natural Gas(MNG) to deliver natural gas to 19 of its 25 facilities in the state’s capital for the next decade, the company said. The facilities consume more than 87% of the gas used by the state in Augusta. The award decision is subject to final approval by theState Procurement Review Committee. MNG said it expects to begin contract discussions with BGS “immediately” since the state plans to begin receiving gas at some Augusta facilities by Nov. 1. MNG in March signed a contract with three companies to begin building the 12-inch diameter steel pipeline backbone of its Augusta gas distribution system (seeDaily GPI,March 11). The 21.4-mile Augusta backbone pipeline is 99% completed and is expected to be ready to start gas delivery to its first Augusta customers by the end of this month, MNG said. MNG andSummit Natural Gas of Mainehave been racing to bring natural gas to the area for some time. Summit on Tuesday said it has signed agreements withInland HospitalandRedington-Fairview Hospitalto supply those central Maine facilities with natural gas line and utility service.

A Range Resources Corp. unit has signed on as an anchor customer for a new private pipeline system that would supply fresh water to natural gas producers drilling in the Marcellus Shale in north-central Pennsylvania.

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection (MBEP) is scheduled to vote Thursday on a motion to end Calais LNG’s effort to build a $1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, import facility and pipeline project in Calais, ME.

Matthew R. Simmons, 67, who founded Simmons & Co. International in 1974, died on Aug. 8 in Maine. Simmons founded the Houston-based energy investment bank and had become an industry go-to expert and frequent critic. He routinely filled energy conference halls with his insights and criticism about oil and natural gas issues. Simmons started the investment bank in May 1974 to focus on the oil services industry, and by 1981 the firm employed 13 people. While some financial services firms abandoned the energy sector through the 1980s, Simmons & Co. persevered and began to work on bankruptcy workouts and debt restructurings. In 1995 Simmons & Co. redefined itself to offer “total energy services,” with a focus on companies with natural gas plants, pipelines and other gathering systems, as well as the downstream sector. In 1998 an office was opened in Aberdeen, Scotland. Two years later the firm completed its first investment banking assignment in the exploration and production sector, now a major part of the firm’s business. Simmons was a proponent of the “peak oil” theory; in his book Twilight in the Desert he offered detailed research that he believed indicated that the world was running out of fossil fuels. Simmons retired as chairman emeritus of the bank in June to devote his full time to the Ocean Energy Research Institute, which he founded in 2007. The institute is a think tank and venture capital fund that focused on the challenges of the U.S. offshore renewable energy industry, including wind energy.