Road

Norway’s Norse Energy Corp. ASA said Monday it has received regulatory approval to sell two natural gas pipeline companies so that it can focus on exploration and production activities in the Marcellus Shale play in New York.

Natural gas faces some road hazards on the way to becoming a leading alternative transportation fuel, suggested speakers at a forum Wednesday in Washington, DC.

Outgoing New York Gov. David Paterson took the high road on Saturday, vetoing a bill that would have codified into law a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state through May 15, and at the same time extending until July 1 a deadline for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to prepare a supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS).

Outgoing New York Gov. David Paterson took the high road on Saturday, vetoing a bill that would have codified into law a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state through May 15, and at the same time extending until July 1 a deadline for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to prepare a supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS).

Arkansas should increase its severance tax rate on natural gas production, including production from the Fayetteville Shale, to help pay for road repairs in gas producing areas, said Sheffield Nelson, former CEO of Arkla Inc., the state’s largest gas company. Nelson was among those who pushed for the state’s last severance tax increase three years ago.

Prices didn’t have much to work with as far as imminent heating load Monday, but traders may have been looking down the road a ways at the colder weather that is expected to be prevalent going into the weekend. The cash market also had prior-trading-day screen support Monday from the 8.1-cent rise by December futures Friday, and it will have even more Tuesday after the prompt-month contract advanced by another 15.1 cents (see related story).

Monday’s slight firmness in the face of still-mild weather in most areas likely was due in part to traders looking down the road a bit and seeing forecasts of colder temperatures. With the change to more bullish weather influences drawing closer, traders pushed all but one point higher Tuesday.

Natural gas is on a road leading to increased markets in electric generation and transportation that are driven by climate change mitigation efforts to reduce our societal carbon footprint, according to Thomas Powers, marketing executive for El Paso Corp.’s western pipelines unit.

As development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania ramps up, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation continues work on a final supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS), which is not expected to be completed until next year.