Scaled

The Alberta government last week scaled back its controversial royalty rate plan for natural gas and oil producers, citing job losses and lower energy prices, but the revisions may be too late for producers that already have set exploration budgets for 2009, some to the benefit of neighboring provinces.

The Alberta government scaled back its controversial royalty rate plan for natural gas and oil producers, citing job losses and lower energy prices, but the revisions may be too late for producers that already have set exploration budgets for 2009, some to the benefit of neighboring provinces.

Independent producers Devon Energy Corp. and PetroQuest Energy Inc. Monday joined the growing list of domestic producers that have scaled back their quarterly production projections and/or cut back their capital expenditures (capex) due to lagging natural gas prices, reduced production volumes in the aftermath of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and the growing credit crunch.

The Senate last week scaled back proposals in its omnibus energy bill that sought to expand the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to review energy mergers, remedy “unjust” electricity rates, award market-based rate authority and order the construction of transmission facilities.

The Senate has scaled back proposals in its omnibus energy bill that would have expanded the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to review energy mergers, remedy “unjust” electricity rates, award market-based rate authority and order the construction of transmission facilities.

Key Republicans in the Senate, led by Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), reportedly are expanding their options for energy legislation.

Boosted by scaled-down buying support, the natural gas futures market rebounded from lows notched Monday morning. However, that buying was muted by a continued negative technical and fundamental outlook, and as a result the market finished in negative territory for the day. The November contract experienced the largest trading range Monday, as the prompt month rebounded to a $2.41 high after dipping down to $2.33 earlier in the session. It closed with a 5.2-cent loss to $2.378. By comparison, the rest of the winter strip was hit harder, led by December, which tumbled 6.5 cents to $2.66.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to mark up “broad” legislation next week to tighten the security of the nation’s major energy infrastructure facilities, and then resume mark-up of a comprehensive energy bill by the middle of the month.

Renowned hurricane forecaster Dr. William Gray and his team ofsoothsayers at Colorado State University have scaled back theirforecast made in early June for the 2000 hurricane season, butstill expect it to be more active than average.