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Rather than take mandatory action, Texas regulators on Wednesday accepted voluntary proposals by a number of state utilities pledging not to include post-Hurricane Katrina natural gas price spikes in their electric rates.

The potential for oil and gas prices to continue rising rather than flatten out, as the current futures market suggests, could put optimistic economic forecasts in jeopardy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday. As energy prices rise and place upward pressure on costs, Greenspan said the central bank would likely continue increasing interest rates gradually to curb core inflation.

The first three Mondays in March consistently saw rebounds from weekend softness (although the gains were rather mild a couple of times and didn’t quite extend to all points in one case). The fourth time was the charm for cash market bears, though, as quotes Monday (March 28) extended the move lower that had been launched on the previous Wednesday and Thursday.

Five senators joined Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) last Tuesday in asking the White House to increase, rather than reduce, the funding for domestic oil and natural gas research and development (R&D) in its upcoming fiscal year 2006 budget request. They also urged the Bush administration not to cut funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) onshore oil and gas management activities.

Five senators joined Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Tuesday in asking the White House to increase, rather than reduce, the funding for domestic oil and natural gas research and development (R&D) in its upcoming fiscal year 2006 budget request. They also urged the Bush administration not to cut funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) onshore oil and gas management activities.

Price declines stayed rather moderate for the most part Wednesday, and heavy cooling load in much of the Southwest kept several Rockies, San Juan Basin and Southern California border points in the vicinity of flat. But outside of the western heat, the cash market was losing virtually all of its remaining vestiges of support.

U.S. standards governing the interchangeability of conventional gas supplies with regasified natural gas (LNG) “should not be set in a vacuum,” but rather should be agreeable with standards established by other nations, two international gas groups advised FERC.

Rather than dealing with “one gargantuan bill,” the Senate should pick out the energy provisions that have the broadest support and are likely to do the most good and pass them individually or in small packages, suggested the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a Capitol Hill newspaper article last Tuesday.

Rather than dealing with “one gargantuan bill,” the Senate should pick out the energy provisions that have the broadest support and are likely to do the most good and pass them individually or in small packages, suggested the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a Capitol Hill newspaper article Tuesday.