Pushes

Although serving as headquarters for one of the nation’s major energy providers, San Diego County’s elected board voted unanimously Tuesday to continue to buy its own natural gas and electricity and to pursue a state-backed loan to further solarize its county government facilities. Past efforts have resulted in reducing the county government’s annual power bill by $655,000, the county has calculated.

Although serving as headquarters for one of the nation’s major energy providers, San Diego County’s elected board voted unanimously Tuesday to continue to buy its own natural gas and electricity and to pursue a state-backed loan to further solarize its county government facilities. Past efforts have resulted in reducing the county government’s annual power bill by $655,000, the county has calculated.

Continuing to put downward pressure on the natural gas futures market, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a whopping 99 Bcf of gas was injected into underground storage for the week ended Sept. 10. The bearish report along with expectations that Gulf production will be back online soon allowed the prompt month to drop 10.5 cents to settle at $4.719.

New Mexico state officials promised Monday not to go quietly in the wake of White House intervention to speed up consideration of Houston-based El Paso Corp.’s plans to drill for coalbed methane in a pristine national forest region in the northeastern part of the state. An energy task force set up by the Bush Administration has overridden U.S. Forest Service opposition, according to a front page report in the Los Angeles Times.

Instead of “following the screen” strength of the previous few days, cash prices found weak fundamentals to be a more compelling influence Friday. Quotes dropped across the board by anywhere from a little more than a nickel to more than 40 cents. The largest declines tended to cluster in the West and Northeast, while most of the smallest ones were in the Gulf Coast.

Sources cited increasing heat levels, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, as the primary reason for fairly sizeable price rallies Tuesday at a majority of points. Only California, which was under a double-OFO whammy, saw moderate softening, although its depressant effect on western markets in general resulted in flat quotes for San Juan Basin and a few Rockies points.

Amerada Hess, BHP Billiton, Stone Energy, Pogo Producing and Tana Exploration were the top five companies based on total amount of high bids in the Minerals Management Service’s Central Gulf Lease Sale 190. The agency said 83 companies submitted $368.8 million in high bids, which was a 17% increase compared to Central Gulf Lease Sale 185 just last year. The total of all bids was $636.8 million.

Amerada Hess, BHP Billiton, Stone Energy, Pogo Producing and Tana Exploration were the top five companies based on total amount of high bids in the Minerals Management Service’s Central Gulf Lease Sale 190. The agency said 83 companies submitted $368.8 million in high bids, which was a 17% increase compared to Central Gulf Lease Sale 185 just last year. The total of all bids was $636.8 million.

California’s private-sector utilities are primed to get back into the power generation sector, and pending rate cases, integrated resource planning and resolution of the state’s direct access program, all should be resolved this year by a combination of state regulatory and legislative actions, according to Carl Wood, the longest serving and most liberal commissioner of the five member California Public Utilities Commission.