Stepped

Leading Woodford Shale producer Newfield Exploration Mid-Continent Inc. has stepped up for more capacity on the planned Midcontinent Express Pipeline LLC (MEP), taking an additional 100,000 Dth/d, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP said Thursday.

Pacific Gas & Electric stepped up the intensity of its Operational Flow Orders, issuing a systemwide Stage 3 high-inventory OFO for Saturday carrying penalties of $5/Dth for exceeding a 5% tolerance on positive daily imbalances. Normally PG&E’s high-inventory OFOs are Stage 2 with $1 penalties.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) last week stepped down from key committee posts amid the fallout from his arrest by an undercover police detective investigating lewd conduct in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis Airport. The embattled lawmaker was said to be on the verge of resigning from the Senate Friday, the New York Times reported.

Reacting to a U.S. Coast Guard report on river waterway suitability, a local congressman stepped out Monday to oppose NorthernStar Natural Gas Co.’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal at Bradwood Landing on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. With a district in southwest Washington that borders parts of the proposed facility’s shipping lanes, Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) said a recently released waterway suitability report provides “enough compelling evidence” to oppose the LNG terminal.

A new contender has stepped forward to help complement the ever dwindling conventional natural gas supplies in the main Canadian producing province of Alberta — coal gasification, on a large scale.

Apache Corp., which has been pretty quiet over the last year, on Thursday stepped into the spotlight, announcing it will spend $1 billion to acquire controlling interests in 28 oil and natural gas fields in the Permian Basin. The assets, purchased as part of a joint venture agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., are expected to produce 9,000 b/d of oil and 18 MMcf/d of natural gas net to Apache this year.

A report developed for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released Monday contends that stepped up energy efficiency programs can replace the need for expanding natural gas drilling offshore and in what the environmental group considers pristine parts of the Rocky Mountains. NRDC is worried about various areas in the West that are viewed as attractive for gas exploration.

End-users of natural gas are on the same page with much of the rest of the industry, seeking increased supply, more price certainty and stepped-up efficiency/conservation programs, according to an industry panel Thursday representing the industrial, utility and energy service sectors at GasMart in Denver. The panelists examined the topic of “End Users in a High-Priced Environment.”

Leaving no area of alternative fuels untouched, the California Energy Commission (CEC) Monday released a plan and set of recommendations for the stepped up development of biomass — biologically derived renewable materials that can produce heat, power, transportation fuels and what state officials think can be other valued-added products and chemicals.