Propose

A preliminary assessment by FERC staff unveiled last Thursday identifies “numerous deficiencies” in proposed mandatory reliability standards submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC).

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should put a stop to leasing land in the Bridger-Teton national forest for oil and gas exploration and production until existing appeals of a lease sale that was held in December are resolved. Freudenthal has asked BLM to postpone an April 4 lease sale that will offer up 19,000 acres of Bridger-Teton land.

East and North Texas gas production growth has prompted Gulf South Pipeline to propose two complementary pipeline expansion projects to relieve existing capacity constraints. Gulf South is holding simultaneous open seasons on the two projects, which could be stand-alone projects or could be developed jointly. Both would create additional west-to-east firm transportation capacity and provide Gulf South additional flexibility in operating its system both now and in the future.

Chevron Corp. would have three days to propose a counteroffer for Unocal Corp. if the Unocal board withdraws its support for the offer, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s natural gas supply rulemaking last September, Sempra Energy’s two utilities asked the CPUC to approve a merger of the gas transmission charges for pipeline transportation on the utilities’ in-state backbone transmission systems. Integrating the now separate charges by the combined utilities would result in lower charges to retail gas transportation customers, the utilities contend.

In a filing earlier in the month in response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s natural gas supply rulemaking last September, Sempra Energy’s two utilities asked the CPUC to approve a merger of the gas transmission charges for pipeline transportation on the utilities’ in-state backbone transmission systems. Integrating the now separate charges by the combined utilities would result in lower charges to retail gas transportation customers, the utilities contend.

The Committee of Chief Risk Officers (CCRO) Thursday published its “Best Practices” recommendations for the natural gas and power industry and price publishers to follow to restore credibility and liquidity to published price indices and head off attempts by government agencies to regulate the collection of price information.

The Committee of Chief Risk Officers (CCRO) Thursday published its “Best Practices” recommendations for the natural gas and power industry and price publishers to follow to restore credibility and liquidity to published price indices and head off attempts by government agencies to regulate the collection of price information.

In response to simmering environmental concerns on the U.S. side of the Mexican border, California congressional members introduced legislation last week that would place fuel limitations and stringent environmental requirements on Mexican-based power plants that sell supplies across the border into the United States. The action was prompted by two power plants now under construction just south of Mexicali in North Baja.