Tiny

The threat of hurricanes, growing gas-fired generation, a plethora of LNG projects and the tiny amount of storage capacity added over the last decade or more have led to a spike in the value of gas storage capacity, FERC staff said in a presentation Thursday at the Commission’s regular meeting. The presentation seemed to provide support for the Commission’s final rule issued Thursday relaxing market power tests for new storage capacity.

Wind energy was the second largest source of new power after natural gas in the United States last year, but it still only represented a tiny portion of the overall domestic power supply. Still, with carbon-based fuels perhaps becoming an “increasing problem,” executives with several top utilities last week said they expect their wind energy businesses to continue to grow, backed by growing support for the clean — and virtually infinite — renewable.

Few people in the gas industry realize it, but Pinedale, WY, a tiny town with one flashing red stop light, soon could become the center of the domestic natural gas universe, said Stuart Nance, director of oil and gas marketing for Ultra Petroleum.

The gas cash market Tuesday shrugged off the impact of Claudette for a second day, anticipating the rapid return of about 2.54 Bcf/d of shut-in gas production possibly as soon as Wednesday morning, as well as another large weekly storage injection on Thursday and continued mild temperatures and weak cooling demand for the rest of the week.

Most cash trading points managed to squeeze out minor upticksWednesday despite a modestly softer screen. Activity was subdued asweather fundamentals remained as relatively mild for summer as theywere for much of last winter.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline filed a significantly scaled-down versionof its Eastern Express Project 2000 last week, reporting thateastern markets have been slow to develop and many New Englandpower generators believe it would be premature to sign long-termcontracts for firm gas transportation. The pipeline’s applicationwith FERC calls for the addition of only 168 MMcf/d of capacityalong the northernmost part of its system at a connection with theJoint Facilities of the PNGTS and Maritimes &amp Northeastpipelines.

PG&ampE Gas Transmission Texas (PG&ampE GT-T), a subsidiary of PG&ampE Corp., and Southern Union Gas Co. said last week they will continue to fight a judgement awarding franchise fees from marketer sales to the City of Edinburg, TX (Pop. 29,885). They said they will appeal a judgment handed down in the 92nd district court in Hidalgo County, TX, even though the judge reduced the award under an August 1998 jury verdict.

The tiny futures increase Monday seemed insignificant but mighthave been a harbinger of a much stronger rise Tuesday that carriedcash up with it. As has often been the case in the past, sourcesdragged out the old refrain of “following the screen” to explain…why cash was rising. Most points west of Waha were flat to only acouple of cents higher, and Rockies prices even fell a bit, butother markets tended to see upticks of 4-9 cents. Activity wasdecidedly more intense following what many people had considered a”boring market” Monday.

Overall movement of cash prices was lower Monday, but there wereconsiderable differences among markets as to the degree ofdownturn. The Gulf Coast, Appalachia and Rockies barely budged withvery few points falling more than a penny or two. TheMidcontinent/Midwest tended to occupy the middle ground-fieldprices were only off 2-3 cents, but declines at marketarea-oriented points such as Northern Natural-demarc, NGPL AmarilloMainline and Chicago citygates were more like a nickel or greater.The biggest losses of around a dime occurred at Northeastcitygates.