Suspects

The nation’s top regulator of offshore oil and natural gas activity said the agency suspects that some in industry are purposely submitting insufficient permit applications to test just how stringent and precise the post-BP review process is.

The nation’s top regulator of offshore oil and natural gas activity said the agency suspects that some in industry are purposely submitting insufficient permit applications to test just how strict and precise the review process is.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) San Bruno pipeline rupture last year was caused by none of the usual suspects when it comes to high-pressure natural gas transmission pipeline failures, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made clear in its final report adopted by the five-member panel in Washington, DC, Tuesday (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31).

The usual suspects — BP plc, ConocoPhillips, Sempra Energy, Coral and Chevron — once again led NGI’s Top 20 List of North American natural gas marketers for 1Q2006. But a closer look at the numbers and recent headlines reveal an evolving cast of characters. Sempra tumbled from its long-held second spot, ConocoPhillips, Coral and Louis Dreyfus showed strong sequential gains, and big-time U.S. gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. edged into the rankings.

While some of the usual suspects who are attempting to re-open or summarily close down energy markets have re-submitted bills, a wide variety of proposed new energy laws were dumped in the California Legislature’s hopper as the deadline for submitting bills passed at midnight last Tuesday. What has emerged, even has one energy industry veteran in the state capital scratching his head trying to determine what might gain some traction this legislative session.

To no one’s surprise, swing prices for the last day of June kept falling Tuesday. The usual suspects were at work: overall mild weather with daily highs unable to struggle higher than the 80s virtually everywhere outside the desert Southwest and Florida, and energy futures weakness the day before that remained in force Tuesday.

More than the California governor’s “usual suspects” appear in the list of top 20 power sellers to the state during the first five months of this year when average spot prices went from $321/MWh in January to $271/MWh in May, according to pricing information released Monday by the state Department of Water Resources (DWR). Average overall prices–spot and long term–paid by DWR went from $316/MWh in January to $243/MWh in May.

The usual suspects are at it again, as Pennsylvania Rep. Frank Tulli (R-106) and Sen. Frank Piccola (R-15) reintroduced a gas deregulation bill last Thursday. Their previous attempt to deregulate service to small commercial and residential customers failed to pass in Pennsylvania’s legislature last fall. Unlike the last try, however, this legislation is supported by a natural gas gross receipt tax (GRT) cut proposal from Governor Tom Ridge, enabling the bill to jump a large hurdle it was unable to overcome last time around (See NGI, Feb. 1).

The usual suspects are at it again, as Pennsylvania Rep. FrankTulli (R-106) and Sen. Frank Piccola (R-15) are re-introducing agas deregulation bill for small commercial and residentialcustomers. Tulli said the bill will be proposed to the legislatureearly this week. The representative hopes to have the legislationpassed through both houses by June 30.