Weigh

California’s electricity grid operator and Portland, OR-based PacifiCorp announced Tuesday an agreement to create a real-time market mechanism for improving the dispatching of power — a widespread efficiency improvement in the electric generation sector that could have lasting impact on demand for natural gas throughout the West.

A well supplied market with limited prospects for demand growth in the months ahead will weigh on natural gas prices, according to BNP Paribas’ Teri Viswanath, senior natural gas strategist.

A well supplied market with limited prospects for demand growth in the months ahead will weigh on natural gas prices, according to BNP Paribas’ Teri Viswanath, senior natural gas strategist.

“It would be reasonable” for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to weigh the public interest of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities when considering applications, but it might not take that step with applications to modify existing LNG facilities for exportation, according to FERC Commissioner John Norris. Adapting existing facilities “involves minor modifications,” Norris said during testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is considering his renomination to FERC. The committee also heard testimony from Tony Clark, who currently is chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission and is being considered to replace former FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer; Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank, who has been nominated to be Energy Information Administration administrator; and Marcilynn Burke, deputy director for policy and programs at the Bureau of Land Management, who has been nominated to be an assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior.

On the ground, the shale boom is a mixed bag as rural landowners weigh the alternatives of securing lucrative royalties at the cost of their land being part of an oil/gas industrial push that critics contend is threatening local environments and public water supplies. The Los Angeles Times last Sunday profiled the dilemma through a feature on two brothers with dairy farms in the rich Marcellus Shale in western New York.

Lawmakers in North Carolina should consider several health and environmental measures as they weigh the legalization of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in their state, researchers at Duke University said in a new report.

Lawmakers in North Carolina should consider several health and environmental measures as they weigh the legalization of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in their state, researchers at Duke University said in a new report.

As state regulators weigh its plan to allow customers to opt out of using advanced metering systems for health reasons, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said Monday it is dealing with a small number of defective smart meters that overcharged about 1,600 electric utility customers throughout its territory. The problem did not arise in the smart natural gas meters the combination utility has installed.

Prices continued to fall at virtually all points Thursday as weak prior-day futures continued to weigh on the market and predictions of hot weather lasting into at least mid-June were falling short of expectations.