Southern

Atlanta-based natural gas and power utility Southern Company on Wednesday unveiled a plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, replacing a previous target of “low-to-no” emissions.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. sees natural gas providing a U.S. energy bridge stretching beyond 2050, combined with a growing portfolio of both nuclear and renewable resources.

While committing Atlanta-based Southern Company’s future tightly to its network of retail natural gas and electric utilities instead of traditional wholesale power operations, CEO Tom Fanning on Wednesday touted the benefits of federal tax reform.

Williams Partners LP and Southern Company Gas, a subsidiary of Southern Company, have successfully placed into service their Dalton Expansion Project, which was designed to add 448,000 Dth/d of capacity on the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) mainline running from New Jersey to Mississippi.

Four companies — Kinder Morgan Inc., National Grid, Southern Company Gas and Southwestern Energy Co. — have joined a voluntary Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, the agency said last week.

The upcoming winter could be an extended one from the northern Plains to the natural gas-hungry population centers of the eastern United States, with cold and snowy conditions stretching into the spring, while the southern half of the nation is expected to be relatively mild and dry, according to a long-term forecast issued Wednesday by AccuWeather.

Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power said Thursday that it would acquire a natural gas-fired power plant in Minnesota from Calpine Corp. for $395.5 million, marking the wholesale power provider’s entry into the Midcontinent ISO.

September natural gas is expected to open 5 cents lower Tuesday morning at $2.70 as perceived moderation in temperatures and increased storage builds is prompting large non-commercial selling. Overnight oil markets were mixed.

California regulators on Thursday nixed a proposed pipeline project that was intended to support the southern gas distribution system of Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas). The ongoing shut-in of the Aliso Canyon storage field diminished the value of such a project, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said.