Problems

Wellhead freeze-offs and other cold-related delivery problems in Canada in January led to a sharp 562 MMcf/d drop in pipeline receipts from December 2003 levels to 15.419 Bcf/d, according to a survey by UBS analysts.

Wellhead freeze-offs and other cold-related delivery problems in Canada in January led to a sharp 562 MMcf/d drop in pipeline receipts from December 2003 levels to 15.419 Bcf/d, according to a survey by UBS analysts.

There have been a “staggering” 30 LNG terminals proposed over the past few years representing as much as 25 Bcf/d of additional LNG capacity but most of the projects have a slim chance of being built, according to Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins.

Kerr-McGee Corp. last week trimmed its third quarter oil and gas production outlook after running into problems in the Gulf of Mexico. The independent, which is maintaining its full-year guidance, warned that a wildcat well offshore under development could drop quarterly earnings 15 cents if it’s dry.

Looking into the crystal ball of what implications LNG will have on conventional domestic gas sources, Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins said it will depend on how much of the new gas is brought in, on what timeframe it arrives and how much it will cost.

The development of a new technology for detecting problems in the nation’s 2-million-mile underground pipeline network was awarded a grant Friday by the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX, and a coalition of researchers and energy companies, including Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co., the largest U. S. natural gas distributor.

While reiterating the ever-tighter intertwining of electricity and natural gas, a major statewide energy assessment by the California Energy Commission released Monday predicted that the next three years should be free of any large risk of a return of the supply/price meltdown of two years ago. However, without an integrated approach that addresses a wide variety of energy, environmental and economic needs, the state could be back in a crisis mode by 2007.

While reiterating the ever-tighter intertwining of electricity and natural gas, a major statewide energy assessment by the California Energy Commission released Monday predicted that the next three years should be free of any large risk of a return of the supply/price meltdown of two years ago. However, without an integrated approach that addresses a wide variety of energy, environmental and economic needs, the state could be back in a crisis mode by 2007.

With expansion overseas ending in retreat and the continuing liquidity and regulatory problems plaguing natural gas and power utilities, U.S. executives remain perplexed over the market’s direction, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).