Narrowing

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday told a Senate subcommittee that he would consider narrowing the scope of the sweeping moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), but he did not indicate precisely when.

Natural gas price gaps among different North American regions are narrowing as the recent surge of major pipeline expansions has opened bottlenecks and leveled the supply playing field. Sources indicated that some spreads will grow again when heating season arrives, but for the foreseeable future near-parity numbers will remain the general norm across the North American spot market.

Natural gas price gaps among different North American regions are narrowing as the recent surge of major pipeline expansions has opened bottlenecks and leveled the supply playing field. Sources indicated that some spreads will grow again when heating season arrives, but for the foreseeable future near-parity numbers will remain the general norm across the North American spot market.

The basis blow-out in the Rockies will narrow in the short term as Kern River pipeline’s 900 MMcf/d expansion goes into service May 1, but the situation may change beyond that as Kern River fills up and Powder River Basin production increases, according to attendees at a recent conference held by the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States (IPAMS).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff has made headway in narrowing the list of “energy affiliates” that would be subject to the broader standards of conduct that are being considered for natural gas pipeline and electric transmission providers and their sister companies, said an official with a major pipeline group. But she believes the list of potentially affected affiliates still is far too expansive.