Noting

Noting that it had invested nearly $1.5 billion during the past 26 years to replace one-third of its natural gas transmission system, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) attempted Wednesday to put in perspective concerns and alleged inconsistencies cited by officials regarding its work before and after a catastrophic pipeline rupture last year in San Bruno, CA.

Noting that it has limited operational flexibility to manage imbalances due to testing of its Bear Creek storage fields, Tennessee said it would implement Saturday a systemwide Imbalance Warning that requires all delivery point operators to keep actual daily takes out of the system equal to or greater than scheduled quantities and all receipt point operators to keep actual daily receipts into the system equal to or less than scheduled quantities. Both conditions apply regardless of an operator’s cumulative imbalance position. The pipeline also declared a force majeure Thursday night in connection with a leak on its line 3 section downstream of Station 110 near Moorehead, KY. Tennessee said it immediately activated its emergency response plan and dispatched personnel to the scene to close valves and isolate the segment between Main Line Valves 111-3 and 111-3A. Based on current nominations, Tennessee did not anticipate any outage-related service restrictions for the gas days of Thursday and Friday.

Noting that his company is well positioned long term for mid-range natural gas prices and tougher environmental restrictions, Calpine Corp. CEO Jack Fusco reiterated Friday that the nation’s largest independent power producer continues to treat gas as its strategic ally. Calpine’s mostly new, natural gas-fired power plant fleet has the ability to benefit from both price and demand increases when they occur in the electricity sector, Fusco said in reporting decreased earnings last year.

If the natural gas industry has its way, Gasland director Josh Fox won’t be “thanking the academy” for an Oscar on Feb. 27.

Noting that the companies are still in the “investigative phase,” a Michigan-based spokesperson for Fiat and Chrysler said the automakers aren’t ruling out any alternative transportation fuels for their future marketing efforts in the United States. Natural gas is just one of several options being explored, and electric vehicles (EV) and clean diesel are included in the mix.

Noting construction is well under way on all eight segments, the Ruby Pipeline backers at El Paso Corp. said Wednesday several factors including winter weather will determine if the project, now two months behind schedule, can be completed as now planned in June.

Noting that they are very close to an announcement for selling their joint venture North American trading assets, San Diego-based Sempra Energy and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced last Monday that Noble Group Ltd. has agreed to acquire Sempra Energy Solutions, a retail unit of the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture. The sale was for $317 million in cash, along with assumption of $265 million in debt.

Noting that they are very close to an announcement for selling their joint venture North American trading assets, San Diego-based Sempra Energy and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced Monday that Noble Group Ltd. has agreed to acquire Sempra Energy Solutions, a retail unit of the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture. The sale was for $317 million in cash, along with assumption of $265 million in debt.

Tennessee said Tuesday it was lifting an Imbalance Warning in all zones, but it continued to ask customers to match physical flow with scheduled quantities.