Principal

The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) reiterated its stance last Tuesday that “futures contracts will remain its principal investment,” but left open the possibility that it may be forced to abandon the futures market altogether because of anticipated changes in the regulatory environment from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) reiterated its stance on Tuesday that “futures contracts will remain its principal investment,” but left open the possibility that it may be forced to abandon the futures market altogether because of anticipated changes in the regulatory environment from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) will hold its annual meeting with the state’s three principal private-sector natural gas utilities Tuesday to assess the industry and get the utilities’ latest price forecasts for natural gas in the Pacific Northwest. PUC commissioners and staff use the annual summer meeting to get an early assessment of gas prices for the coming fall and winter, a commission spokesperson said.

SCANA Corp. principal subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) has filed with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC) for a 2.53% overall increase in its retail natural gas base rates.

SCANA Corp. principal subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) Friday filed with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC) for a 0.87% overall increase to its retail natural gas base rates.

A proposed 20 Bcf underground natural gas storage facility in Northern California drew strong interest in a recently completed open season, said its two principal backers, a subsidiary of Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E).

A proposed 20 Bcf underground natural gas storage facility in Northern California drew strong interest in a recently completed open season, said its two principal backers, a subsidiary of Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E).

National Fuel Gas Supply Corp., the principal pipeline and storage subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co., said its recent nonbinding open season (see Daily GPI, March 27) to offer 500 MMcf/d of capacity or more to Leidy, PA, and/or the proposed Empire and Millennium interconnects received “robust market interest.” Bids for transportation service totaled nearly 1 Bcf, the company said. Bids included proposed transportation services from gas supply sources in the Appalachian region of western Pennsylvania, the Rocky Mountain basin via Rockies Express at Clarington, OH, and the Market Hub at Leidy. National Fuel said it is assessing what facilities would be required to accommodate the services requested and expects to begin discussions with those who requested service.

Puget Energy and its principal utility subsidiary, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), expanded senior leadership. Eric Markell becomes executive vice president and CFO; Bertrand Valdman becomes executive vice president and COO; and Kimberly Harris becomes executive vice president and chief resource officer (CRO). Markell joined the company in 2002, Valdman in 2003 and Harris in 1999. “Their new assignments will broaden and focus the management expertise of our entire leadership team. This realignment adds more focus to our efforts to continue to improve our gas and electric [utility] service, to our development of a full range of energy and energy efficiency resources, and to improving our financial ability to deliver on our region’s expectations,” said CEO Stephen Reynolds. Puget’s PSE utility is the state of Washington’s oldest and largest private-sector utility, serving 1 million electric and 718,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties — primarily in western Washington.