Plagued

The Chesapeake Bay, long plagued by pollution from development across its 64,000-square-mile watershed, is showing “some encouraging signs of improvement,” but is still “dangerously out of balance” and needs to be protected from a variety of threats, including natural gas drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) “2010 State of the Bay” report.

FERC gave Equitrans LP the go-ahead last Wednesday to begin building its Big Sandy Pipeline to ease the capacity constraint that has plagued producers in the eastern part of Kentucky over the past two years. The authorization came less than two weeks after FERC approved the pipeline project (see NGI, Nov. 20).

FERC gave Equitrans LP the go-ahead Wednesday to begin building its Big Sandy Pipeline to ease the capacity constraint that has plagued producers in the eastern part of Kentucky over the past two years. The authorization came less than two weeks after FERC approved the pipeline project (see Daily GPI, Nov. 16).

Fresh from a shakeup at the top of its debt-plagued organization, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. Thursday said it has asked the Delaware Chancery Court for 90 days to restore only part of the $313 million in natural gas asset sales proceeds that the court last month ruled had been misappropriated by the troubled power plant developer/operator. The court’s Vice Chancellor Leo Strine had ordered that the funds be restored to a special account earmarked for senior bondholders. Calpine said it is continuing to evaluate its options, including the possibility of filing for bankruptcy.

Plagued by an array of bearish fundamental and technical factors, the natural gas futures market continued a slow, methodical grind lower Tuesday as calculated scale-down, end-user buying matched up with commercial and speculative selling activity. After an early rally failed to attract much support, the September contract shuffled lower throughout the session to finish at $5.373, down a half-cent for the day.

With the drought that plagued the northwest region of the country for most of 2001 appearing to be over, the resulting increase in hydropower will likely not put natural gas-fired generation out of business, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc. in its Stat of the Week. Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins said the negative impact on gas-fired electricity generation from the increase in hydropower will be mostly offset by a reduction in nuclear power generation in 2002.

With the drought that plagued the northwest region of the country for most of 2001 appearing to be over, the resulting increase in hydropower will likely not put natural gas-fired generation out of business, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc. in its Stat of the Week. Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins said the negative impact on gas-fired electricity generation from the increase in hydropower will be mostly offset by a reduction in nuclear power generation in 2002.

Despite the recent topsy-turvy events that have plagued the energy industry over the past couple of months, AEC’s board of directors said Monday that it has approved the company’s 2002 capital budget and confirmed that AEC is on course to achieve its strategic growth plans through 2004.

To no one’s surprise, softness ruled in Friday’s trading for the weekend. Most price drops ranged from about a nickel to a quarter, with those in the vicinity of a dime most common. The larger declines tended to be at western points, and weekend OFOs caused border-SoCalGas and the PG&E citygate to register plunges on either side of a dollar.