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Although much of the attention has been on the “aging work force” in the oil and natural gas industry, retirement makes up just 15% of total attrition in the natural gas transmission industry, according to a new study released by the INGAA Foundation last Tuesday.

Although the focus has been on the “aging work force” in the oil and natural gas industry, retirement makes up just 15% of total attrition in the natural gas transmission industry, according to a new study released by the INGAA Foundation Tuesday.

Demand for natural gas to fuel new power plants in Ontario will skyrocket if the province makes good on its plan to phase out four coal-fired generating plants by 2014, a CIBC Markets analyst wrote in a recent research note.

Demand for natural gas to fuel new power plants in Ontario will skyrocket if the province makes good on its plan to phase out four coal-fired generating plants by 2014, a CIBC Markets analyst wrote in a recent research note.

The energy industry is going to have to wait until next Wednesday to find out whether the controversial energy policy reform bill (HR 2337) makes it out of the House Natural Resources Committee. Following the second day of markup Thursday, Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) said the “last and most important votes” on the measure would come then.

The disparity of U.S. regional wholesale power markets makes it “difficult” to evaluate the degree to which more competition has influenced consumption and investment decisions in generation and transmission, a federal task force said in its final report to Congress last Thursday. It further found that retail power competition has yielded disappointing results.

What a difference a year makes. In early 2006, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) featured a session at CERAWeek titled, “Is the Time Finally Right for Renewables?” This year, the buzz is not only about rising costs and profit margins, but about the number of sessions devoted to energy efficiency, climate change and biofuels.

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.

U.S. energy companies make the big bucks, and that in turn makes them a big target for lawsuits. The average U.S. energy company now has around 364 separate lawsuits pending in U.S. courts, and 59% faced at least one $20 million-plus lawsuit last year, law firm Fulbright & Jaworski reported in its third annual survey.