Requesting

The workload for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wyoming offices is growing by the day — as are its coffers — with natural gas producers requesting environmental assessments on a variety of proposed drilling projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday published a “concept release” requesting comments on the public’s interest in revising the commission’s current oil and natural gas reserves disclosure requirements.

Following a successful open season conducted in May (see NGI, May 7), AGL Resources subsidiary Golden Triangle Storage Inc. has filed at FERC requesting a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to construct and operate a proposed underground natural gas storage project with market-based rates to be located on the southern edge of Beaumont in Jefferson County, TX.

Following a successful open season conducted in May (see Daily GPI, May 2), AGL Resources subsidiary Golden Triangle Storage Inc. has filed at FERC requesting a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to construct and operate a proposed underground natural gas storage project with market-based rates to be located on the southern edge of Beaumont in Jefferson County, TX.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Suez’s proposed Neptune liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port, which would be located about eight miles southeast of Gloucester, MA and 22 miles northeast of Boston. The project would include a subsea pipeline and a submerged buoy system that would surface to connect two cargo ships with onboard regasification. The 11-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline would bring an average of 500 MMcf/d of regasified LNG to a connection with Algonquin’s HubLine pipeline in Boston Harbor. Construction would take about three years with commercial operation expected in 2009. The DEIS stated that using one pipeline system for the Neptune project and the competing Northeast Gateway offshore LNG project, sponsored by Excelerate Energy, would reduce the environmental impacts of both projects. The agencies considered the impacts of three proposed LNG import terminals: Neptune, Northeast Gateway and AES Battery Rock, which would be built on an island near the entrance to Boston Harbor. Public meetings on the Neptune DEIS will be held later this month in Massachusetts. For more information, go to MARAD’s website at http://www.marad.dot.gov/dwp/index.asp.

Aquila Inc., which serves 190,000 natural gas customers in Nebraska, has filed an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) requesting a pilot project for a new pricing option for customers in the state. If approved, customers would have the option to choose a fixed price or the current traditional method for their gas bills.

The Department of Energy (DOE) sent out a notice last Tuesday requesting public and stakeholder comments on the outlook for natural gas supply and demand through 2015. The agency is looking for input on what role the federal government should play, what data and analyses are required to complete such an assessment, and what might be among the methods for balancing supply and demand, such as demand side management practices or alternative supply sources for example.

The attorneys general of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin sent letters last week to seven natural gas utilities requesting projections on natural gas prices and demand for the upcoming heating season. The attorneys general want utilities to explain the measures they are taking to protect consumers from rising gas prices.

Enron Corp.’s Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee has filed a motion requesting the bankruptcy court reject a $2.2 billion offer by NuCoastal LLC to acquire its CrossCountry Energy business unit. In the proposed “stalking horse” transaction, an unnamed company has submitted a counteroffer for $55 million more, according to the motion.