Southwest

Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. Wednesday warned its customers in the northern half of Nevada about potentially high retail gas rates this winter. The gas-only distribution utility attributed the higher gas costs principally to the fact that wholesale gas demand is growing faster than new supplies, keeping the prices at historically high levels. The utility, which also has gas utility operations in California and Arizona, said it expects bills for the average residential customer using 96 therms to climb from $86 last December 2003 to $122 this December. The figures include a pending increase now before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.

Looking to bolster its core natural gas reserve base in the Southwest, Comstock Resources Inc. announced that it has agreed to purchase substantially all of the assets of Ovation Energy, LP. for $62.5 million.

Looking to bolster its core natural gas reserve base in the Southwest, Comstock Resources Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase substantially all of the assets of Ovation Energy, LP. for $62.5 million.

Temperatures in Alaska, the far West, Southwest and Southern Plains are expected to be above normal for the 2003-04 winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, for the rest of the nation there are equal chances of above-, below- or near-normal temperatures, NOAA said.

Temperatures in Alaska, the far West, Southwest and Southern Plains are expected to be above normal for the 2003-04 winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, for the rest of the nation there are equal chances of above-, below- or near-normal temperatures, NOAA said.

Trunkline has scheduled maintenance expected to last 12 days starting Oct. 6 at Ambia Compressor Station in southwest Indiana near the Illinois border. Capacity for the Ambia segment during the outage will be 600 MMcf/d.

Other than severe heat in the Southwest and inland California, gas wasn’t getting much weather support Wednesday, as much of the South turned decidedly mild in the wake of a cool front moving southeastward. But prices still managed fairly strong rebounds that were between 10 and 29 cents in most cases, and up to about 30 cents at the PG&E citygate and above 40 cents in San Juan Basin.

A few flat to barely lower points in the Midcontinent, Gulf Coast and Southwest mixed with moderate increases in the rest of the market Tuesday. Screen strength from the day before, along with continued storage buying, nuclear plant outages and power generation demand in the sultry South, were the major contributors to keeping this week’s cash bullishness from fading.

Kicking off the new year with a binge of open seasons, Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP (KMP) launched three separate offerings last week for pipeline projects poised to bring new supplies of gas into Arizona markets and the Midwest.