Market

A subsidiary of Duke Energy’s Market Hub Partners (MHP) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the preliminary go-ahead to develop an underground natural gas storage facility in Copiah County, MS.

During this period of record volatility in the natural gas market, Devon Energy has made an effort to reduce its downside commodity price risk with several hedging instruments, including costless collars, price swaps and fixed price transactions that cover a substantial amount of its natural gas production. The company became the largest independent natural gas producer in North America last month with its Oct. 15 acquisition of Anderson Exploration. The deal increased its gas production to 2.2 Bcf/d.

Northern Natural Gas did not extend a System Overrun Limitation notice for all market area zones beyond Thursday.

Due to wintry weather moving in, Northern Natural Gas declared a System Overrun Limitation today for all market area zones (ABC, D and E/F).

Saying its capacity is fully utilized, warmer weather is being experienced in the market area and overall linepack is lower, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Monday with 15% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

This represents a new kind of approach by the Commission to the market, “which is that we’re acting not reacting,” said Commissioner Nora Brownell. The creation of this mechanism does not necessarily mean FERC has seen a “pattern of abuse” by pipelines that would warrant “more vigorous pursuit” of OFO activity, she noted. “We are simply setting up the mechanisms by which we will know them [OFO abuses] when we see them and be able to deal with them.”

Rendezvous Gas Services LLC, formed by subsidiaries of Western Gas Resources Inc. (WGR) and Questar Market Resources plans to offer gas gathering and compression services beginning next year in the Pinedale anticline and Hoback Basin areas in southwest Wyoming under a joint venture agreement between the two companies.

Rendezvous Gas Services LLC, formed by subsidiaries of Western Gas Resources Inc. (WGR) and Questar Market Resources plans to offer gas gathering and compression services beginning next year in the Pinedale anticline and Hoback Basin areas in southwest Wyoming under a joint venture agreement between the two companies.

Energy stocks of all persuasions generally followed the stock markets down throughout last week, the first week of trading after the cataclysmic events of Sept. 11.