Uniformity

In an attempt to bring uniformity to the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the shale plays of the Appalachian Basin, a consortium of 11 producers Tuesday released recommended standards and practices on everything from the preparation of a regional spill and emergency response plan to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids, as well as for local relations and well site selection.

Uniformity of price change direction made one of its relatively rare (in recent months) returns to the spot market Tuesday when quotes arose across the board in trading for last-of-month flows. A cold front moving into the western sections of the Midwest Wednesday and freezing overnight temperatures in the Rockies and parts of Western Canada had heating load on the rise, and Monday’s 5.1-cent expiration-day increase by November futures chipped in a little extra support.

Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. will be preparing in late November to implement a rate increase in the southern half of the state where most of the population and growth is taking place, while it prepares to lower rates to customers in the northern part of the state.

In an attempt to bring more uniformity to its certificatepolicy, FERC has issued a final rule abandoning itsoptional-certificate (OC) regulations that offered speedierprocessing of pipeline applications for sponsors who were willingto assume all of the risks.

In an attempt to bring more uniformity to its certificatepolicy, FERC last week issued a final rule abandoning itsoptional-certificate (OC) regulations that offered speedierprocessing of pipeline applications for sponsors who were willingto assume all of the risks.