Midwest

After years of bickering, protests and heated controversy, Guardian Pipeline has been completed and is scheduled to begin delivering natural gas supplies to northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin markets before mid-December, says a spokesman for CMS Energy, a partner in the pipeline. But there is one glitch.

Reflecting heavy weather load in the Upper Plains and Upper Midwest, Northern Natural Gas declared a System Overrun Limitation for all market-area zones effective Thursday until further notice.

Despite a substantial amount of near-winter weather lingering in the Midwest and Northeast market areas, softer cash prices Wednesday showed conclusively that the early-week rally had run out of steam. A few scattered points were flat to barely lower, but otherwise losses ranged up to about 30 cents at the PG&E citygate. Most decreases were around a dime or less, however.

Midwestern local distribution companies (LDCs) are looking at far fewer suppliers and treading cautiously in the new wholesale market without the large marketers they had relied on in the past.

Midwestern local distribution companies (LDCs) are looking at far fewer suppliers and treading cautiously in the new wholesale market without the large marketers they had relied on in the past.

Alliance Pipeline L.P. contends its 1,900-mile Canada-to-Midwest system and a number of other new pipelines that have cropped up over the past six years wouldn’t have been built if it hadn’t been for FERC’s negotiated rate policy. If some pipes are abusing the policy, then the Commission should make specific changes to remedy the situation, but it shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, the pipeline said.

Alliance Pipeline L.P. contends its 1,900-mile Canada-to-Midwest system and a number of other new pipelines that have cropped up over the past six years wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for FERC’s negotiated rate policy. If some pipes are abusing the policy, then the Commission should make specific changes to remedy the situation, but it shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, it said.

Efforts by the Alliance Companies and the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) to hammer out an agreement that would allow the Alliance Transmission Co. to fall under the broader MISO regional transmission organization (RTO) umbrella have hit a bump in the road, Alliance told FERC last week.

The weekend was expected to give some relief to California’s cold snap, although by Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy. By the standards of California — even in winter — its been downright freezing in the night time and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.