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West Virginia believes it can support a chemical industry even if plans to ship Appalachian ethane to Canada and the Gulf Coast come to fruition, an official told a Pittsburgh-area audience Wednesday.

Southern Union Co. is seeing its dance card beginning to fill up after Williams arrived late Thursday bearing a more lucrative merger package than one offered earlier this month by Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE).

Even though the case still is pending before FERC, former Amaranth natural gas trader Brian Hunter has asked a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, to reconsider the agency’s decision to levy a $30 million fine on him for allegedly manipulating the gas futures market.

Two former federal regulators appear confident that Congress will pass energy legislation this year, even though the 2012 election season is fast approaching — a time when most lawmakers shy away from contentious energy matters.

May natural gas futures opened higher Monday but quickly tumbled nearly 20 cents to land solidly in the loss column, as falling oil markets were able to tug natural gas lower. At the close May was off by 6.6 cents to $4.138 and June had declined 7.4 cents to $4.190. May crude oil swan-dived $2.54 to $107.12/bbl.

Even though there is no gas drilling in the state, several New Jersey lawmakers are proceeding with a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) and plan to vote next week on a resolution urging neighboring states to enact fracking moratoriums to protect the water supply.

Even though there is no gas drilling in the state, several New Jersey lawmakers are proceeding with a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) and plan to vote March 14 on a resolution urging neighboring states to enact fracking moratoriums to protect the water supply.

Even with an energy industry “sea change” to renewables, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) remains reliant on natural gas and the industry’s current shale boom, General Manager Ron Nichols told NGI’s Shale Daily on Thursday.

Even though water and sewer lines run parallel to the natural gas transmission pipeline that ruptured last September in San Bruno, CA, city officials, including the fire chief, were generally unaware of the gas line before the incident, according to testimony Wednesday in the second of three days of fact-gathering hearings in Washington, DC, by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).