Problems

Near-record average annual natural gas prices this year could cause problems on several fronts for local distribution companies, Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) said Thursday in a semiannual study of the gas industry. However, S&P also noted signs of substantial market recovery in the merchant energy sector and gains in other nonregulated business segments — particularly exploration and production.

Iroquois said Tuesday it is continuing to experience mechanical problems at the Dover and Boonville compressor stations and lower pipeline pressures, prompting it to ask all point operators to be at or below their scheduled volumes through Tuesday’s gas day. Iroquois said it trying to rectify the situation as soon as possible to avoid curtailments of gas moving through the Athens compressor station.

Industrial customers, associations and environmental/energy efficiency activists have become unlikely allies to pressure Congress and the Bush administration to take steps to bridge the gap between natural gas supply and demand, promote the construction of new gas pipelines and storage facilities and foster greater conservation and energy efficiency by consumers.

Industrial customers, associations and environmental/energy efficiency activists have become unusual allies in order to press Congress and the Bush administration to take steps to bridge the gap between natural gas supply and demand, promote the construction of new gas pipelines and storage facilities and foster greater conservation and energy efficiency by consumers.

Regardless of the merits or faults of a recently proposed generator retirement policy by PJM Interconnection, there are deeper market design flaws that the regional transmission organization (RTO) must address in order to ensure reliability in its footprint, generators told FERC in recent filings [EL03-236].

A reduction in generating resources, resulting from potential risk factors such as an aging number of power plants, environmental regulations, as well as financial uncertainty in the market, could bring about deficit electricity conditions in certain areas of New England within the next two to four years, ISO New England (ISO-NE) said on Thursday.

FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said last Monday that at least two of the dozen of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals proposed for New England and eastern Canada need to be built by the end of this decade to provide the region with sufficient supplies of gas for winter heating and power generation, according to published reports.

FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said Monday that at least two of the dozen of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals proposed for New England and eastern Canada need to be built by end of this decade to provide the region with sufficient supplies of gas for winter heating and power generation, according to published reports.

The United States’ expectations that liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be the “savior” for its gas supply problems may be too high, said a top official with American Electric Power (AEP) last Tuesday.