Rash

The outcry from Congress following the rash of pipeline accidents in recent months is to be expected, but legislative mandates are not the solution, said the head of Questar Pipeline last Monday.

The outcry from Congress following the rash of pipeline accidents in recent months is to be expected, but legislative mandates are not the solution, said the head of Questar Pipeline Monday.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal last Thursday called on the state’s regulators to impose significant penalties on Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) for a rash of customer overbillings in January and February.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Thursday called on the state’s regulators to impose significant penalties on Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) for a rash of customer overbillings in January and February.

A rash of protests were lodged last week at FERC against a Columbia Gulf Transmission tariff filing that seeks to impose strict scheduling penalties and establish a monthly cash-out process that would penalize shippers for imbalances regardless of whether their actions threatened the reliability of the natural gas pipeline system.

A rash of protests has been lodged at FERC against a Columbia Gulf Transmission tariff filing that seeks to impose strict scheduling penalties and establish a monthly cash-out process that would penalize shippers for imbalances regardless of whether their actions threatened the reliability of the natural gas pipeline system.

A rash of downed nuclear plants tied with early strength in crude futures sent natural gas futures higher Monday morning, but the run-up proved to be short-lived. After hitting a high of $7.630 in morning trade, May natural gas futures, in unison with crude, dropped off later in the afternoon, settling at $7.244, up 3.4 cents on the day. Even more surprising was that the prompt month’s settle was only 2.4 cents higher than the contract’s $7.22 low for the day.

Fueled by a rash of disclosures about questionable energy trading practices, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) last week offered modified stand-alone legislation that seeks to bring over-the-counter (OTC) energy and metals derivatives traded over private electronic exchanges under the oversight umbrella of the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC).

Will production declines expected to stem from the recent rashof producer spending cuts (see related story) lend support to gasprices this year? Well that’s just one of several questions on theminds of analysts as they speculate on what the market will grantproducers this year. While there’s not a consensus, the generalmood seems to be pessimistic.