Pushes

A triple hunting license — to increase delivery capacity, cast for customers and accelerate drilling — has been granted to the leaders of the next growth planned for natural gas production offshore of Nova Scotia, Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NP) and EnCana Corp.

In a market practically mandated by the weather forecasts, non-Rockies prices dropped by double-digit amounts in nearly all cases Friday. A winter storm approaching the upper Rocky Mountains from Northern California and the Pacific Northwest boosted area load enough to keep most Rockies points flat to mildly lower and even raise numbers at the highly temperature-sensitive Cheyenne Hub.

While offshore production gradually returned toward normal Friday, traders began paying more attention to regenerated Tropical Storm Lili in the Caribbean Sea and noticing how its course eerily was resembling that of the now-defunct Isidore so far. Their concerns about potential new Gulf of Mexico outages in the coming week translated into price gains of about a nickel to a little more than 20 cents at all but a few scattered points that were flat to slightly lower.

Due to sharply rising oil prices, strong 30-day contract prices for May and a greater than expected fall-off in natural gas production during the first quarter 2002, Lehman Brothers analyst Thomas Driscoll said the firm is raising its 2002/2003 natural gas price forecasts by $0.25 and $0.50 to $3.00 and $3.50 per MMBtu, respectively.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday sought to provide guidance to the power industry on the formation of an organization to develop wholesale electric industry business practice and communications standards. Although the Commission is giving industry first crack at developing such an organization, FERC made it clear that if the electricity sector does not step up to the plate — and quickly — the agency will either select an organization itself or set up a procedure to develop the standards.

California’s second merchant underground natural gas storage project near Sacramento began injecting supplies this month, but its commercial start-up date has been pushed back to Dec. 1, according to the California operations manager for Houston-based Western Hub Properties LLC, the developer.

California’s fledgling Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority (power authority) last week continued its breakneck start-up, announcing its pursuit of various gas-fired and renewable power generation projects that are aimed at giving the state another 3,000 MW online by next summer. In addition, the power authority said it has posted on its web site (www.capowerauthority.ca.gov) a draft request for bids for microturbine, solar and fuel cell projects.

Reflecting a “significant” decline in Gulf of Mexico rig demand, Houston-based ODS-Petrodata Group (OPG) said Wednesday that its Offshore Rig Date Rate Indices, updated monthly, continue to decline, which is having a “dramatic” impact on the region. The decline, it said, is related to a drop in domestic natural gas prices, with the jackup fleet utilization plummeting from 95% at the beginning of the second quarter to 74% this month.

Bruce Birchman, the FERC administrative law judge (ALJ) overseeing proceedings related to possible refunds for electricity overcharges in California, last Thursday issued a revised trial schedule related to the proceeding under which he now plans to certify proposed findings of fact in mid-December.