Numerous

A preliminary assessment by FERC staff unveiled last Thursday identifies “numerous deficiencies” in proposed mandatory reliability standards submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC).

Citing its high safety standards and concerns about gas supply in New England, FERC Thursday denied numerous requests for rehearing of two prior orders on the proposed Weaver’s Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Fall River, MA, and KeySpan’s Providence LNG import terminal in Providence, RI. In July, the Commission had conditionally approved the Weaver’s Cove project but had rejected Providence LNG’s application based on safety concerns (see Daily GPI, May 23, 2005).

The American Public Gas Association, American Gas Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, Industrial Energy Consumers of America and numerous other organizations sent a letter Wednesday to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee urging it to move quickly on comprehensive energy legislation that includes provisions that would open up more domestic areas to natural gas drilling.

After finding support as low as $7.04 and $7.05 numerous times during the regular session, December natural gas futures in the afternoon decided to test the upside instead. With market watchers eagerly awaiting confirmation of the first natural gas storage withdrawal of the season, the prompt month squeezed higher to settle at $7.283, up 15.9 cents for the day.

After finding support as low as $7.04 and $7.05 numerous times during the regular session, December natural gas futures in the afternoon decided to test the upside instead. With market watchers eagerly awaiting confirmation of the first natural gas storage withdrawal of the season, the prompt month squeezed higher to settle at $7.283, up 15.9 cents for the day.

Citing Northeast market need and perhaps ignoring the track record of other recent projects in the area, TransCanada Corp. and Shell US Gas & Power LLC announced plans for a deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal about 11 miles off the coast of Connecticut and nine miles offshore Long Island in Long Island Sound.

Citing Northeast market need and perhaps ignoring the track record of other recent projects in the area, TransCanada Corp. and Shell US Gas & Power LLC announced plans for a deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal about 11 miles off the coast of Connecticut and nine miles offshore Long Island in Long Island Sound.

After bouncing off the $7.05 level numerous times during morning trading, November natural gas futures gave up on traveling below $7 for the session. Instead, with help from another strong day turned in by crude and heating oil futures, the prompt month went on to settle at $7.163, just 9.2 cents lower than Thursday’s close.

Despite numerous attempts to water down its final anti-manipulation order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Wednesday upheld the bulk of its November 2003 ruling that barred companies holding natural gas blanket marketing certificates from acting in a way that would manipulate energy prices and markets.