Prepare

The offshore industry has taken more precautions to prepare for hurricane season, but as it continues to recover from last year, a stormy season could provide a “meaningful catalyst” for commodity prices, especially natural gas, Raymond James energy analysts said in their latest Stat of the Week.

The energy industry has done all it can to prepare for possible hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, but a “fragile people situation” remains, Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O’Reilly said Wednesday.

The offshore industry has taken more precautions to prepare for hurricane season, but as it continues to recover from last year, a stormy season could provide a “meaningful catalyst” for commodity prices, especially natural gas, Raymond James energy analysts said in their latest Stat of the Week.

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement and related scoping process for two combined Rockies gas exploration and development plays planned by Devon Energy Corp. and BP, covering potentially up to 8,950 new natural gas wells in what the BLM has designated as the “Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Project.”

As national authorities in Canada prepare to start a year of hearings Jan. 25, the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) is quietly warming up the next stage of the northern regulatory process for action by starting work on local and aboriginal agencies. In a progress report to the National Energy Board, the C$7 billion (US$6 billion) Mackenzie project reported filing 10 detailed applications with native and Northwest Territories authorities.

Pipeline representative Donald Santa told FERC Thursday that pipeline shippers will have to prepare for the possibility that higher penalties may have to be used by pipeline companies to discourage customers from using gas that isn’t theirs this winter. He also said pipeline companies are going to have to work more closely with customers to find solutions to the problem of liquids in the gas stream because of the 16 processing plants that remain out of service.

Making it another piece in its fall campaign to prepare the general public for steeply higher natural gas utility bills, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) last Friday wrapped up a series of public hearings and workshops around the state on a request by UniSource Energy’s UNS Gas, Inc. utility proposal to increase eightfold an existing purchased gas adjustor (PGA) surcharge to cover its higher cost of wholesale supplies.

The Energy Information Administration in its first Short-Term Energy Outlook following Hurricane Katrina warned the natural gas industry and its customers to prepare for sky-high gas prices this winter.

With natural gas prices continuing to remain lofty, Americans should prepare themselves for higher utility bills this winter heating season, according to a new survey conducted by NUS Consulting Group. The annual survey found that the average price of natural gas nationwide increased by 4.3% from the period of September 2003 to September 2004.