Metropolitan

The cash market on average was unchanged Wednesday as weather forecasts for major metropolitan areas showed little in the way of near-term heat, although warmth was forecast for the Midwest and Ohio Valley into the Father’s Day weekend. Physical prices were within a few pennies of unchanged at most points and at the close of futures trading July had eased 4.7 cents to $2.185 and August had slipped 5.1 cents to $2.236. July crude oil shed 70 cents to $82.62/bbl.

The Tulsa, OK, Metropolitan Transit Authority is accelerating plans to replace all of its diesel-powered bus fleet with compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, and it has signed a contract with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to design, build, operate and maintain a CNG fueling station.

A seemingly on- and off-again project to build a new interstate pipeline connection for the Portland, OR, metropolitan area is currently very much on and eyeing market and regulatory milestones in the first half of this year, according to senior executives at NW Natural.

A seemingly on- and off-again project to build a new interstate pipeline connection for the Portland, OR, metropolitan area is currently very much on and eyeing market and regulatory milestones in the first half of this year, according to senior executives at NW Natural.

Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced that it has signed a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority to upgrade, operate and maintain the transit unit’s compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations. The county has the largest clean-air bus fleet in the nation, with CNG-powered buses representing about 95% of the fleet. Clean Energy said that during the next 12 months it will rework and upgrade the CNG station compressor equipment at stations in the transit authority’s Central and South Bay divisions, where the fuel requirement is expected to be about nine million gallons annually. The county transit unit obtained federal stimulus package funding last year for the CNG station upgrade. Across America Clean Energy is partnering with many major public transit agencies, fueling more than 5,000 clean-air buses, about half of which are in the Los Angeles County fleet.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMTA), the largest public transportation system in car-laden Southern California, is operating the nation’s largest natural gas-powered bus fleet, and Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said Tuesday it has signed a contract to upgrade four of LAMTA’s fueling stations.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMTA), the largest public transportation system in car-laden Southern California, is operating the nation’s largest natural gas-powered bus fleet, and Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said Tuesday it has signed a contract to upgrade four of LAMTA’s fueling stations.

Two of Southern California Gas Co.’s (SoCalGas) underground natural gas storage fields in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area were honored with “Outstanding Lease Maintenance Awards” by the California Department of Conservation’s oil, gas and geothermal resources Ventura Division. The awards were announced by the Los Angeles-based Sempra Energy utility. SoCalGas’s 100 Bcf-plus Aliso Canyon storage site in the north end of the city’s sprawling suburban San Fernando Valley was honored by the state for the 25th consecutive year; the other facility, Honor Rancho, near Valencia beyond the norther boundaries of the San Fernando Valley, was honored for the 23rd consecutive year. The utility said the state has informed it that a third storage facility, Playa del Rey, located in the load center of Los Angeles near the Pacific Coast, will also receive an award. Last year, SoCalGas earned three of 37 lease maintenance awards from the state department’s oil/gas division. Aliso and Honor Rancho were developed in the 1970s; Playa del Rey dates back to the mid-1940s.

In order to satisfy the growing residential and commercial natural gas demand in the Greater Boston metropolitan region, Spectra Energy subsidiary Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC said late Wednesday it has filed an application with FERC on a $35 million expansion that will enhance and extend its current pipeline system.