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The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is seeking comments on a request it plans to make to the Office of Management and Budget to gather information on excess flow values (EFVs). The agency said it wants to collect data on operators’ experiences, practices, benefits and costs associated with the use of ETVs. An EFV is a device designed to limit the impact of a potential leak or explosion by restricting the flow of natural gas if a line is broken or damaged. The information to be collected is necessary to conduct a cost-bnefit analysis of requiring an expansion of the use of EFVs, the PHMSA said. Comments should be submitted by July 16 to http://www.regulations.gov or by mail to the Docket Management Facility; DOT, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is seeking comments on a request it plans to make to the Office of Management and Budget to gather information on excess flow values (EFVs). The agency said it wants to collect data on operators’ experiences, practices, benefits and costs associated with the use of ETVs. An EFV is a device designed to limit the impact of a potential leak or explosion by restricting the flow of natural gas if a line is broken or damaged. The information to be collected is necessary to conduct a cost-bnefit analysis of requiring an expansion of the use of EFVs, the PHMSA said. Comments should be submitted by July 16 to http://www.regulations.gov or by mail to the Docket Management Facility; DOT, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

Colorado lawmakers have passed HB 1258 by a vote of 95-3. The legislation would make it easier for retail outlets to provide natural gas, propane and electric vehicle fueling. The bill, which was sent to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is expected to sign it in May, would allow retailers to sell the three alternative vehicle fuels without Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) scrutiny. Electric vehicle recharging and liquefied natural gas fueling fell under PUC oversight; however, the other two fuels (compressed natural gas and propane) did not.

It may take some time before fewer drilling rigs and curtailed output make a dent in domestic onshore natural gas production. Dry gas production skyrocketed 11.6% in January from a year earlier to 2,047 Bcf gross, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Although some farming and environmental representatives have raised red flags, water used by the oil/gas industry in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is not going to cause shortages for the agriculture and local municipalities in the state, a state water district official told NGI’s Shale Daily Monday.

Gas for Monday delivery fell about 8 cents nationwide in Friday trading as an overall shortage of demand combined with the need to make up ground traversed by the double-digit decline in the May futures on Thursday. Losses were greatest at eastern points as temperature forecasts called for seasonal readings for most of next week. At the close of futures trading May had lost 2.3 cents to $2.126 and June had given up 1.1 cents to $2.259. May crude oil added 24 cents to $102.02/bbl.

“The more people think things are going to stay the same, the more surprising it will be when they change,” might be an apt revision of an old proverb for today’s shale gas industry.

Low gas prices, shrunken basis differentials, modest price volatility and abundant supply should make for an end-user’s dream, and they do. But North America’s gas renaissance comes with some wrinkles.

Continuing low prices for natural gas could make it possible for the addition of anywhere from 2 Bcf/d to 10 Bcf/d in demand due to displacement of coal-fired power generation, various analysts have estimated.