Perfect

Nevada’s pipeline safety program run by the state’s regulatory commission earned a perfect score for the fourth time in five years last year in an annual evaluation done by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). The Nevada PUC operates as an agent for the federal OPS, enforcing federal safety provisions for liquid propane and natural gas pipeline operators.

In what appears to be a perfect match, Sempra Energy’s communications unit has come up with a process to marry natural gas with fiber optics. If successful and approved by the various public utility commissions around the country, Sempra could solve one of the telecommunications industry’s biggest problems — transport — by using the nation’s gas pipelines to carry fiber optic cable from outlying networks into buildings.

It’s not a perfect world yet, but sponsors of the major projectsto tap reserves in the far north are working to avoid mistakes ofthe past by coming up with a joint plan to pipe supplies fromAlaska and the Northwest Territories to market areas in the south.

It’s not a perfect world yet, but sponsors of the major projectsto tap reserves in the far north are working to avoid mistakes ofthe past by coming up with a joint plan to pipe supplies fromAlaska and the Northwest Territories to market areas in the south.

The natural gas futures market made it a ‘perfect ten’ yesterdayby trading within a tight 14-cent range for the tenth consecutivetrading session. The August contract showed promise early, racingout to a strong start and posting a $2.239 high. That, however,would be the best the market could do Tuesday. It then wilted underselling pressure in the afternoon. The prompt month finished at$2.198, down 0.9 on the day.