Understands

At the request of the oil and natural gas industry, the Obama administration will extend the public comment period on proposed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rules governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

In an interview with a knowledgeable syndicated public affairs columnist who understands energy issues, California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who has long coveted the governor’s office, made it clear that he thinks California will not need a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal following the recent state approval of the 80-mile North Baja Pipeline expansion to allow gas supplies to flow from a soon-to-open LNG terminal in Mexico.

The TransCanada Alberta system (NOVA) said Thursday it “understands the impact that the fire at the ethane facility near Fort Saskatchewan is having on the industry.” The pipeline is granting on a case-by-case basis a hydrocarbon dew point relief to shippers upon written request, pending downstream review. “At this point we have observed no adverse operational impacts on our system,” TransCanada said. “It has been determined that the overall heating value at Empress has remained steady, whereas the average heating value at ABC [Alberta/British Columbia border] has risen since Sunday…We have seen no significant reduction of overall field receipts and we are not aware of any major concerns for downstream transporters or end-users.” TransCanada noted that in light of a press release Wednesday by BP Canada, the ethane facility operator, “we understand that there is a plan to reactivate a liquid pipeline system. Although there are no immediate plans to extinguish the fire, they do expect the duration of the fire to last at least two weeks.”

As the nation continues to creep warily forward into natural gasand electricity deregulation on all fronts, Cinergy Corp.understands that in order to take advantage of the full potentialof its companies it must change as well. The company announcedyesterday that it is embracing a new organizational structure thatwill increase the autonomy of its subsidiaries and focus on thegrowing importance of non-regulated markets.

As the nation continues to creep warily forward into natural gasand electricity deregulation on all fronts, Cinergy Corp.understands that in order to take advantage of the full potentialof its companies it must change as well. The company announcedyesterday that it is embracing a new organizational structure thatwill increase the autonomy of its subsidiaries and focus on thegrowing importance of non-regulated markets.