Providing

Key pressure points influencing the price of natural gas this summer — the economy, storage, consumption and supply — are expected to be flat with last summer, providing a more stable market than a year ago and a “measure of relief” for consumers during the June through August period, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) said in its latest outlook. While the forecast is an improvement over last summer, the producer group stressed that the gas market still remains very tight.

Northern Border Pipeline said it has put its Chicago III expansion project into service, providing an additional 130 MMcf/d of firm transportation capacity to the Chicago market area. The project included the addition of a new 16,000 horsepower compressor unit at Compressor Station No. 16 in Johnson County, IA, and modifications to existing Compressor Station No. 17 in Scott County, IA and existing Compressor Station No. 18 in Bureau County, IL. The $21 million project is fully subscribed by four shippers under long-term firm agreements with terms ranging from 5.5 years to 10 years. “This is our third expansion of the Northern Border Pipeline into the Chicago market hub, and we continue to evaluate additional opportunities to create value for our customers into this major market,” said Bill Cordes, president of Northern Plains Natural Gas, which operates Northern Border. The 1,249-mile interstate pipeline transported 22% of all Canadian gas imported into the United States in 2005.

A former natural gas trader for Reliant Energy on Tuesday received the maximum 57-month prison sentence for providing false trading data to index publishers in 2000. Jerry Futch pleaded guilty last year, but he had asked the court to throw out his indictment last month (see Daily GPI, Feb. 15).

Chapter 11 bankruptcy-based Calpine Corp. announced in a federal filing Tuesday that its new CEO Robert P. May has a two-year contract providing $1.5 million annual base salary, a $2 million signing bonus, and the possibility of earning minimum bonuses for the two years of $3.75 million collectively.

Policy makers and regulators are providing natural gas consumers with life boats and life jackets, but then they quickly add, “‘By the way, this ship is going down,” said an executive with Dow Chemical Monday.

Swift Energy Co. said repairs to its Louisiana coastline facilities, damaged in Hurricane Katrina, will take three to six weeks, depending on availability of supplies, equipment, parts — and personnel and contractors. The storm also will result in Swift deferring 2.75-3.25 Bcfe of production in the third quarter.

Shell Canada announced that it has acquired 58,000 acres of land in northeastern British Columbia for $85 million, providing exploration and development prospects in the deep basin area. The company said the purchase doubles its holdings of tight sands, or basin-centered, gas resources in Canada, and illustrates the need to focus more on unconventional plays because of maturing conventional resources.

The American Public Gas Association (APGA) praised the Bush administration in a letter to the president on Wednesday for providing leadership in pushing through a new roadless rule governing national forest access and management. APGA estimates the new rule will provide access to as much as 11-23 Tcf of natural gas resources that were previously off limits. However, a Department of Agriculture (USDA) official said it is premature to draw that conclusion.

Northern Natural Gas does not have to continue providing Transwestern Pipeline customers a free ride on a portion of its system under an agreement that the two pipelines entered into a decade ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said last Wednesday in dismissing a show-cause proceeding against Northern Natural.