Shot

Oddsmakers are making it a long shot that the much-delayed final environmental impact report (EIR) on the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in Long Beach, CA, harbor will emerge this year. Its release has been delayed again with a target of mid-December, but with little confidence that the new date will hold, a spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach, one of the report’s co-authors, told NGI late Friday.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. subsidiary ATS Inc. extended its all-cash tender offer of $23/share for New Orleans-based Energy Partners Ltd. (EPL) on Friday, but EPL shot back that the price remained “inadequate” and “not in the best interests of shareholders.”

Following a down day Monday, September natural gas futures shot higher Tuesday morning despite bearish fundamentals, which left some market participants scratching their heads. Despite moderating temperatures nationwide and nearly no activity in the tropics, the prompt month reached a morning high of $7.24 before easing off in the afternoon to close at $7.158, up 25.1 cents on the day.

Newcomers to the Canadian arctic natural gas scene have fired the opening shot in a battle for access to transportation services in the C$7 billion (US$6 billion) Mackenzie Gas Project sponsored by the producer old guard.

Natural gas bulls were pleasantly surprised Wednesday as futures prices were able to hold on to opening gains. After opening at $6.950 the April contract shot as high as $7.130 before selling appeared to knock the closing price down to $6.953, up a healthy $0.085 on the day. The May contract added $0.092 to end at $7.103, and May crude oil futures fell $0.57 to $61.77/bbl.

Coming as the latest shot in the ongoing squabble between the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and Nicor Gas, the utility watchdog group Thursday blasted a $55 million rate hike proposed by the utility that received a favorable recommendation from two administrative law judges at the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC).

The Senate on Thursday narrowly approved as part of the omnibus energy bill a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that mandates the increased use of renewable energy in the production of electricity, a move that could eventually reduce the amount of natural gas consumed by the generation sector and cause gas prices to taper off somewhat.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch fired another shot on Thursday in the heated legal battle that has developed over KeySpan Energy’s plan to convert an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak shaving facility (formerly Algonquin LNG) in Providence into a 525 MMcf/d LNG import terminal.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch fired another shot last Thursday in the heated legal battle that has developed over KeySpan Energy’s plan to convert an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak shaving facility (formerly Algonquin LNG) in Providence into a 525 MMcf/d LNG import terminal.