Steps

There is a “serious shortage” of generating capacity to meet Ontario’s growing demand for electricity, and if steps are not taken to address this situation, the province could face even more serious reliability problems next summer, a new report issued last week by an Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) market surveillance panel concludes. The report warns of possible supply interruptions and continued upward pressure on prices during periods of peak demand as early as next summer.

The first steps have been taken toward ending a 30-year-old ban against drilling offshore of Canada’s west coast, a region projected to harbor 42 Tcf of natural gas. A technical review panel of three blue-chip experts, following months of consultations with specialists, declared there is no scientific basis for continuing the moratorium.

The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) has taken a number of “steps in the right direction” to improve its oversight of the safety of natural gas and hazardous liquids pipelines, but it still has a long way to go, a General Accounting Office (GAO) official told Congress last week.

FERC took initial steps last Wednesday to set up a “specific division” within its Office of External Affairs (OEA) that would reach out to and work closely with states on pressing natural gas and electric regulatory issues. The initial focus of the FERC-state partnerships will be on regional transmission organizations (RTOs), which are considered the most urgent matter facing regulators now.

Conoco Inc. stepped forward this week to help lead Canada in the northern pipeline race, with CEO Archie Dunham paying a call on Calgary as his company takes possession of Gulf Canada Resources Inc. Three weeks after the C$9.8 billion (US$6.3 billion) takeover deal won Canadian government approval and closed on stock exchanges, Dunham declared bringing Mackenzie Delta gas to market to be Conoco’s “number one priority,” and said “the market needs it so we need to strike while the timing is good.”

A publicly held independent, San Diego, CA-based Royale Energy, announced Tuesday it successfully drilled a new well in the historically heavily drilled dry gas Rio Vista field in the Sacramento Basin in eastern Contra Costa County. No flow rates were given, but two earlier wells in the vicinity drilled last year are producing 2 MMcf/d collectively, said Don Hosmer, a Royale Energy executive in San Diego.

Undaunted by gyrating prices or Alaskan competition, the next big steps in reviving natural-gas exploration in the Canadian Arctic have begun on schedule.

Undaunted by gyrating prices or Alaskan competition, the next big steps in reviving natural gas exploration in the Canadian Arctic have begun on schedule.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. took two significant steps in its ongoing federal bankruptcy proceedings last week, while its holding company, PG&E Corp., was being targeted by the California Attorney General for federal investigation of possible misappropriations of funds between the parent company and the financially troubled utility.