Scramble

El Paso subsidiary Colorado Interstate Gas is dusting off its Ruby Pipeline project in light of the scramble to increase deliveries to the California market. The project, which originally was announced in 1998 to serve northern Nevada, will be extended to Reno, NV, and into California, the pipeline said in an open season announcement last week.

El Paso subsidiary Colorado Interstate Gas is dusting off its Ruby Pipeline project in light of the scramble to increase deliveries to the California market. The project, which originally was announced in 1998 to serve northern Nevada, will be extended to Reno, NV, and into California, the pipeline said in an open season announcement.

While Canadian natural-gas producers scramble to increasesupplies, federal and provincial regulators are embarking onefforts to clear long-standing hurdles from the industry’s path. Arecord 600 drilling rigs – 96% of the nation’s 627-unit fleet -were at work as of mid-January. Although oil hunts are reviving,industry analysts estimated two-thirds or more of the activity isdirected at gas.

As cooler-than-normal temperatures statewide reduced peak-powerdemand to winter levels, California last week was awash in proposedsolutions to its electricity price and supply problems, which arelikely to be much more severe next summer.

While Canadian natural-gas producers scramble to find newsupplies to fill their expanding pipeline grid, their leading peerin the electricity sector is laboring to get rid of the stuff – bycurbing flatulence in cattle.

Three weeks of severe weather in the Gulf of Mexico have leftproducers with their heads spinning and have sent Gulf productionon a roller coaster ride, but producers should find some solace inthe large number of pipeline companies scrambling to serve theirgrowing transportation needs with new projects. In total, the newpipeline expansions announced last week could add more than 1 Bcf/dof additional pipeline access to markets for deep-water supplies.