Usual

Southern Natural Gas disputes claims by an affiliate of a Houston-based natural gas marketer that the pipeline acted improperly by deviating from the usual approach for aggregating bids in awarding capacity during an open season that closed in August. Southern, an El Paso Corp. pipeline, was accused of violating its tariff and FERC policy.

Southern Natural Gas disputes claims by an affiliate of a Houston-based natural gas marketer that the pipeline acted improperly by deviating from the usual approach for aggregating bids in awarding capacity during an open season that closed in August. Southern, an El Paso Corp. pipeline, was accused of violating its tariff and FERC policy.

Continuing losses of cooling load, a 17.4-cent drop by September futures a day earlier and the usual weekend decline of industrial demand ganged up to depress prices by double-digit amounts at all cash points Friday.

Under the radar of the usual public discussion on business agenda items, Sempra Energy quietly celebrated Friday as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) separately and unanimously approved a $6.5 million reward for its gas utility supply purchasing programs and an amendment to a delayed pumped storage generation project that could bring its electric utility operations some extra revenues.

The newest of the five California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulators, Timothy Alan Simon, with the usual safety and environmental qualifiers, came out last Tuesday strongly in favor of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal being sited in California, and for natural gas being viewed as a key component of what he termed the “blue bridge to a new green economy,” giving it equal standing with energy efficiency and renewable energy resources — the state’s two mandated top energy choices.

The newest of the five California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulators, Timothy Alan Simon, with the usual safety and environmental qualifiers, came out Tuesday strongly in favor of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal being sited in California, and for natural gas being viewed as a key component of what he termed the “blue bridge to a new green economy,” giving it equal standing with energy efficiency and renewable energy resources — the state’s two mandated top energy choices.

Another 10% of the Gulf of Mexico’s (GOM) usual natural gas production began to flow over the weekend, but 65.5% remained shut in more than a week after Hurricane Ike struck the region, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) stated Monday.

Mixed price movement was even more mixed than usual Tuesday as big and small losses were arrayed against big and small gains. Growing perception that the developing eastern cold snap won’t be quite as severe as earlier expected, combined with Monday’s 21.4-cent drop by December futures, resulted in softness across much of the East.

The usual suspects — BP plc, ConocoPhillips, Sempra Energy, Coral and Chevron — once again led NGI’s Top 20 List of North American natural gas marketers for 1Q2006. But a closer look at the numbers and recent headlines reveal an evolving cast of characters. Sempra tumbled from its long-held second spot, ConocoPhillips, Coral and Louis Dreyfus showed strong sequential gains, and big-time U.S. gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. edged into the rankings.