Suit

Unable to ignore the 22-cent hike in April natural gas futures values on Thursday, cash point averages across the country followed suit on Friday with upticks mostly between a dime and 20 cents.

While Quebec’s announcement that hydraulic fracturing could continue on a limited basis has divided people in the province, a government official in the neighboring province of New Brunswick said a moratorium on the practice won’t be implemented there.

Feeding off of Friday’s new lows for the down-leg in natural gas futures, a vast majority of cash market averages followed suit on Monday with most points declining from a few pennies to nearly a dime. Out West the tune was a little different as most points gained at least a nickel as the region faced some of the warmest temperatures it has seen all summer.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler Friday filed a suit in federal district court challenging the Department of Commerce’s decision overriding the state’s efforts to block AES Sparrows Point LLC’s proposed 1.5 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and pipeline east of the Port of Baltimore.

Just one day after Dow Chemical Corp. reported product price hikes due to higher commodity, feedstock and transportation costs, Huntsman Corp. followed suit on Thursday announcing it will raise prices for all products, some by as much as 25%, and also impose an energy surcharge across a wide range of products.

Taking its cue in part from Friday’s significant natural gas futures drop, most cash points averages on Monday followed suit, recording drops of a few pennies up to approximately 75 cents. The few gains were recorded out West, where a “very warm pattern” settled in over the weekend.

Trans-Elect on Thursday filed suit in the Federal District Court of Northern Illinois (Chicago) against Illinois Power on the grounds that the utility violated the terms of a contract to sell its transmission system to Trans-Elect. The move comes after Dynegy Inc. last month disclosed that it is in talks to sell its Illinois Power unit to Exelon Corp.(see NGI, Sept. 29).

A district court judge in Montana has ruled that the state of Wyoming and various producers may intervene in support of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is defending its major environmental impact statements (EIS) and decisions earlier this year allowing a massive increase in coalbed methane drilling in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana (see Daily GPI, May 5).

Like most of the world, Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) will have to accept being “average,” according to ratings released Thursday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services that provide a triple-B-minus (BBB-) rating with a positive outlook for a company refinancing.