Normal

Gas prices fell about 20 cents last week at most points East of the Rockies despite the loss of about 8 Bcf of gas production because of shut ins in the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Claudette. While about 2.7 Bcf/d of supply was knocked out on Tuesday when the hurricane made landfall on the central Gulf Coast of Texas near Matagorda Bay, nearly all of the supply was back on stream by Friday.

After making little more than a dent in natural gas supplies from the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Claudette was downgraded to a tropical storm late Tuesday afternoon and slipped into a tropical depression overnight into Wednesday as it made its way west/northwest toward Mexico. Gulf producers continued to repopulate platforms and rigs in the Western and Central Gulf, but about 2.2 Bcf/d of gas production remained shut in Wednesday, according to the Mineral Management Service (MMS).

Renowned hurricane forecaster Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University is expecting a more active than normal hurricane season this year with an above average probability of Atlantic basin tropical cyclones and U.S. hurricane landfall. In the extended range forecast released on Friday, Gray’s team of meteorologists predicted there would be eight hurricanes, three of them intense hurricanes and a total of 12 named storms this year.

Renowned hurricane forecaster Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University is expecting a more active than normal hurricane season this year with an above average probability of Atlantic basin tropical cyclones and U.S. hurricane landfall. In the extended range forecast released on Friday, Gray’s team of meteorologists predicted there would be eight hurricanes, three of them intense hurricanes and a total of 12 named storms this year.

Flying low under the normal local media and environmental radar screens, Japanese mega-conglomerate Mitsubishi is pushing ahead with preliminary plans for building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Southern California coast in Long Beach Harbor on part of a former U.S. Naval Base. A local official connected to the Japanese giant said it is only a few months away from making formal federal energy and environmental filings.

Due to much warmer than normal temperatures during the first quarter in California, Nevada and Arizona, Southwest Gas Corp. announced consolidated earnings of $0.76 per share for 1Q2003, a $0.56 decrease from the $1.32 per share earned during the first quarter of 2002. The company’s consolidated net income was $25.5 million, compared to $42.9 million in the prior period.

Flying low under the normal local media and environmental radar screens, Japanese mega-conglomerate Mitsubishi is pushing ahead with preliminary plans for building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Southern California coast in Long Beach Harbor on part of a former U.S. Naval Base. A local official connected to the Japanese giant said it is only a few months away from making formal federal energy and environmental filings.

Due to much warmer than normal temperatures during the first quarter in California, Nevada and Arizona, Southwest Gas Corp. announced consolidated earnings of $0.76 per share for 1Q2003, a $0.56 decrease from the $1.32 per share earned during the first quarter of 2002. The company’s consolidated net income was $25.5 million, compared to $42.9 million in the prior period.

NOVA restored its imbalance tolerance range to the normal +4/-4 Tuesday, a day after shifting it to 0/-4 to discourage rising linepack.