Noting

Noting forecasts indicating that Hurricane Frances could make landfall on the cast coast of Florida or turn north and make landfall north of the state, Florida Gas Transmission said Wednesday landfall is expected to occur sometime over the Labor Day weekend. “Historically, gas demand is high on FGT just prior to a hurricane passing over Florida. This high demand is then followed by a dramatic decrease in gas demand if the hurricane actually makes landfall in Florida. Additionally, gas demand can be high when a hurricane just passes by Florida without making landfall,” the pipeline added. Because of the anticipated load volatility, FGT asked customers to make adequate arrangements to manage supplies to accommodate both increases and decreases in demand. To maintain operational integrity, FGT said it may issue either an Overage or Underage Alert Day on any of the upcoming gas days. (An Overage Alert Day notice at 20% tolerance remained in effect through at least Wednesday).

Noting that the economic indicators driving electricity demand growth were all up in the second quarter, an executive with San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. told financial analysts Thursday that coal operators are likely to have to buy more power on the open market in the near-term to hedge increased competitive pressures on coal-fired power.

Noting that the economic indicators driving electricity demand growth were all up in the second quarter, an executive with San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. told financial analysts Thursday that coal operators are likely to have to buy more power on the open market in the near-term to hedge increased competitive pressures on coal-fired power.

Noting that California’s energy markets are “markedly more stable” than only a few years ago, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services released an analysis last week that warned that a return to instability is possible, given the state’s continued power transmission grid limitations and the prospect for a shortfall in generation in the next few summers. “A measure of uncertainty remains in the California markets,” S&P concluded.

Noting there was “nothing new, nothing cut out,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Wednesday upheld on rehearing a final rule that places new quarterly financial reporting requirements on natural gas and electric companies, and on oil pipeline companies so it can keep a closer check on the energy industry.

Noting there was “nothing new, nothing cut out,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday upheld on rehearing a final rule that places new quarterly financial reporting requirements on natural gas and electric companies, and on oil pipeline companies to keep a closer check on the energy industry.

Noting a drop off in excess power generation capacity in the West, Duke Energy CEO Paul Anderson last Wednesday told a gathering of financial professions that he thinks the Western energy market will recover “more strongly than others” over the next couple of years.

Noting “the high volume of liquid recovered during the past weekend,” Questar said it has implemented more frequent pigging operations on its Southern System between Fidlar Station and Price, UT. The pipeline expects to accomplish pigging operations between the Riverbend area and Price with little or no customer impact, but said the work from Fidlar to the Riverbend area requires a change in flow direction. To facilitate the Riverbend-to-Fidlar pigging scheduled for Thursday, Questar has identified six production points in the area — Mesa Tap, Kings Canyon, Island 52-3, Hill Creek, Seep Ridge and Cottonwood Wash Tap — with hydrocarbon dew point levels in excess of 50 degrees F. It was accepting no nominations from those points for Thursday’s gas day said but said it would resume taking nominations there effective with Intraday 2 (Cycle 4) scheduling. Based on the liquids recovered during Southern System pigging operations, Questar will evaluate future nomination limitations from receipt points with high hydrocarbon dew points.

Noting forecasts of sub-zero cold for much of Wisconsin Wednesday night and Thursday, ANR declared an Extreme Condition effective at 9 p.m. CST Wednesday until further notice. ANR said the action lowers its “Swing Percentage” (essentially, negative imbalance tolerance) from 10% to 5%, and it is not allowing any Unauthorized Overrun under Rate Schedules FTS-1, FTS-2, FTS-3, STS and ETS. The pipeline also asked that all receipts and deliveries in Wisconsin, excluding ETS and FTS-3 services, be at a uniform hourly flow rate over a 24-hour period.