Seems

The gas market seems to be taking note of the fact that the final leg of the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline, REX-East, could be delayed by environmental review at FERC as the impact of the project on eastern markets has yet to be reflected in forward basis, says an analyst at Barclays Capital.

The gas market seems to be taking note of the fact that the final leg of the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline, REX-East, could be delayed by environmental review at FERC as the impact of the project on eastern markets has yet to be reflected in forward basis, says an analyst at Barclays Capital.

The debate about where producers may or may not drill in the United States “seems to be stuck in a time warp of the 1960s” that fails to take into account the energy industry’s ability to drill with precision and with a minimal environmental footprint, ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson said last week. “It is time the public debate on access in this country moves forward.”

The debate about where producers may or may not drill in the United States “seems to be stuck in a time warp of the 1960s” that fails to take into account the energy industry’s ability to drill with precision and with a minimal environmental footprint, ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. “It is time the public debate on access in this country moves forward.”

The new Congress wasted little time in taking action on the energy issue that always seems to draw the most headlines: drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) was joined by Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) in introducing the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act, which would designate the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area with permanent protections.

Although gas unbundling and customer choice seems to have taken a step backward in the United States (see Daily GPI, April 19), it’s still just getting started in British Columbia. Terasen Gas said Tuesday that it aims to offer new supplier options to its residential customers by May 2007, given regulatory approval.

In a market that seems to be able to dismiss negative influences almost at will, cash prices shrugged off the previous day’s 70.6-cent screen drop and still-limited amounts of heating load to turn in a mixed performance Tuesday. Many points were little changed from flat, but gains ran as high as about 15 cents while losses topped out at nearly 20 cents.

The U.S. seems slow to realize that it must try harder to compete for global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. And even with all the Rockies pipeline projects that have been completed in the past few years, more takeaway capacity is needed for regional production to realize its true value. These themes were common in the “Alternative Gas — Supply Sources for the Region” panel discussion Tuesday at the LDC Forum-Rockies and West conference in Los Angeles.

An initial review undertaken by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seems to suggest the spike in natural gas prices in the Northeast and elsewhere last week was “fundamentally driven” by market forces, rather than abusive practices, said the head of the agency’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) last Wednesday.