Quickly

In a letter Wednesday to Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman urged the governor to quickly push through the legislative and contractual work necessary to begin the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Project.

FERC is being asked to quickly sign off on a proposal that could allow for the return to service of two 265 MW power plants in New England prior to the dog days of this summer. The plants, which are located in Rhode Island and Maine, have been operated by indirect subsidiaries of bankrupt Calpine Corp.

The French government will hold a 34% stake in a new global energy company formed by a $47 billion merger of Suez and French government-owned Gaz de France. The transaction was quickly crafted over the weekend to discourage a possible bid for Suez by Italian utility company Enel. It is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.

After opening on Wednesday 28 cents lower than Tuesday’s settle, January natural gas quickly found support at $13.630 before exploring higher. Fluctuating weather reports and storage uncertainty allowed traders to push the prompt month to the day’s high of $14.400 before closing a few minutes later at $14.271, up 19.1 cents on the day.

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.

In a world of “internationalizing” national oil companies (NOCs), the terms “major” and “super major” are quickly losing their meanings.

FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher last week said that energy attorneys would be well advised to quickly pick up and read a rule FERC moved to adopt this week. The rule requires that issues raised in pleadings and requests for rehearing be set forth in a separate section entitled “Statement of Issues” listing each issue presented in a separate paragraph and referencing representative precedent on which a filer is relying.

FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher on Thursday said that energy attorneys would be well advised to quickly pick up and read a rule FERC moved to adopt this week. The rule requires that issues raised in pleadings and requests for rehearing be set forth in a separate section entitled “Statement of Issues” listing each issue presented in a separate paragraph and referencing representative precedent on which a filer is relying.

Rep. Doug Ose (R-CA), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee’s subcommittee on energy policy, recommended last Tuesday that FERC and the U.S. Coast Guard develop a “programmatic template” so that companies interested in developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects would know exactly what is required of them to achieve agency approval and swift processing. He also supported the concept of the Commission picking the most preferable sites for the location of onshore LNG facilities.