Real

As California faces its first real heatwave of the summer, the fate of the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) remains a mystery, and the only sure bet is that more natural gas-fired electric generation within and outside the state will have to be called upon to make up for the absence of the huge plant along the Pacific Coast in North San Diego County.

Physical gas for weekend and Monday delivery was mostly flat in Friday’s trading with modest gains posted in the Rockies and Midcontinent. However, the real story could be found in the northeast, where large drops were recoreded for a second straight trading day.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s (KMP) Crude/Condensate pipeline (KMCC) has entered service, carrying crude oil and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas to the Houston Ship Channel.

Augmented by more aggressive marketing from oil/gas producers, automakers, retailers and states, natural gas for transportation is beginning to get some real traction despite a defeat last week in the U.S. Senate of a national stimulus package for natural gas vehicles (NGV).

Augmented by more aggressive marketing from oil/gas producers, automakers, retailers and states, natural gas for transportation is beginning to get some real traction even as Congress came up short last Tuesday in attempts to add a national stimulus package to the specialized vehicular fuel aimed mostly at fleet operators.

As Marcellus Shale development has been expanding across Pennsylvania, dairy production has been falling, but it’s unclear how the two trends are connected, according to a report from Pennsylvania State University.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second largest natural gas producer in the United States, has shut in 1 Bcf/d gross through October, CEO Aubrey McClendon told investors on Wednesday.

Barring an intervention by policymakers to restrict hydraulic fracturing, and as long as there is a worldwide economic recovery, steady growth will continue within the natural gas industry through 2030 because of growing worldwide demand, energy experts said last week.

Decidedly low-tech compared to the real-time electric grid system, natural gas nevertheless is due for a smartness upgrade in its usually mechanically based infrastructure. From increased uses as a transportation fuel to higher-tech approaches to exploration and production (E&P) in the oil/gas patch, the latest natural gas technological push has been boosted by the burgeoning shale gas sector.