Seeing

Long-suffering Rockies producers are seeing the light at the end of the basis tunnel as the landmark Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) wends its way eastward. But what the industry has yet to open its eyes to is the trouble brewing down South, says an industry analyst.

Long-suffering Rockies producers are seeing the light at the end of the basis tunnel as the landmark Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) wends its way eastward. But what the industry has yet to open its eyes to is the trouble brewing down South, says an industry analyst.

Having lost its joint venture partner, ConocoPhillips, and seeing no softening of the local government officials’ resistance, Mitsubishi’s Sound Energy Solutions (SES) is hoping a California Superior Court in Los Angeles will eventually put its plans back on track for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Port of Long Beach. A court hearing Friday was set to outline the schedule for the case in the first quarter next year.

Having lost its joint venture partner, ConocoPhillips, and seeing no softening of the local government officials’ resistance, Mitsubishi Corp.’s Sound Energy Solutions (SES) is hoping a California Superior Court in Los Angeles will eventually put its plans back on track for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Port of Long Beach. A court hearing Friday is supposed to set the schedule for the case in the first quarter next year.

To protect the declining sage grouse population and avoid seeing it listed as a protected species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), Wyoming has to reduce the effects of energy development and impose tighter restrictions on residential development, a state panel recommended this week.

Despite seeing an earlier than normal withdrawal from storage, traders on Thursday pushed December natural gas futures lower in morning trade. However, after bouncing off of support, the prompt month pushed higher to finish the day at $7.814, up 10.2 cents from Wednesday.

Having gotten a negative signal from prior-day futures trading and not yet seeing enough air conditioning load to make a difference, cash prices fell across the board Thursday.

While no references to the “Great Blizzard of January 2006” are anticipated, the market was seeing more cold weather support Tuesday than it had in more than two weeks previously. That and the return of industrial load from the extra curtailments associated with a holiday weekend were sufficient to send prices higher at most points.

As the world population grows from six billion to eight billion people by 2030 and economic growth increases in developing countries, the world’s energy use will rise 60% from levels seen in 2000, or 1.6% per year from 205 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 335 million boe/d, even taking into account gains in energy efficiency, according to ExxonMobil’s Annual Energy Outlook released Tuesday.