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Under an Oregon law designed to true up private-sector utility tax payments and retail rates annually, the state’s major investor-owned utilities have filed their 2006 tax reports with the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC). Regulators said Wednesday they will launch a proceeding to review the filings.

The upward enthusiasm of Tuesday quickly dissipated Wednesday as traders reverted to tried and true seasonal spread trading. April futures fell 10.6 cents to $7.366 and May eased 9.7 cents to $7.491 as funds and managed accounts bought May contracts and at the same time sold April and also bought January and sold October.

Maintaining the status quo in natural gas utility rate design may be costly to consumers, utilities and society, but innovative rate designs and true-up mechanisms could align the interests of all stakeholders, according to a white paper by the American Gas Foundation (AGF).

The adage may say “never a borrower or a lender be,” but that doesn’t hold true for the energy business. Producers are chasing assets and capital providers are chasing borrowers at a time when most everyone believes gas and oil prices have reached a new deck. For energy industry capital markets these are “unique” times, and the United States is where the bulk of the action is.

In a world of accelerating decline rates, depleting reserves and LNG uncertainty, unconventional gas plays in the Lower 48 are something to be excited about. This is particularly true of the burgeoning Barnett Shale play in the Forth Worth basin of north-central Texas.

Long-term forecasts by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) understate the true potential of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply that could be available to the domestic marketplace through 2010, but the manufacturing and industrial sectors need to actively support the growth of the domestic LNG industry, according to a new report by Arlington, VA-based Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI.

Long-term forecasts by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) understate the true potential of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply that could be available to the domestic marketplace through 2010, according to a new report by Arlington, VA-based Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a nonprofit economic and policy research organization.

A true shoulder-month sensibility began to assert itself again in the spot gas market Tuesday. Generally mild to seasonal weather across the West and South, forecasts of some moderation of the cold temperatures that opened the week in the Northeast, and the prior-day example of weakening energy futures led to price dips ranging from about a nickel to nearly a quarter.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production data from the Minerals Management Service lags Texas and Louisiana’s state data by 15 months, but even though it appears that offshore natural gas production is on the upswing, it’s still too early to say, according to a new report by Stephen Smith Energy Associates.