Widespread

Sparked by widespread damage to Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas infrastructure during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) on Tuesday issued a final rule in the Federal Register to “improve the survivability” of offshore platforms and increase environmental safety during hurricane events.

FERC has begun a formal, nonpublic investigation into whether any mandatory federal reliability standards were violated during the widespread power outage in Florida last month that affected as many 2.5 million people statewide.

Preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation into the cause of widespread power outages that swept across Florida last Tuesday indicate that the primary cause was human error, Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) said Friday.

With the latest in a string of widespread blasts of cold weather due over the weekend, prices were higher at a modest majority of points Friday. The cash market also drew support from the previous day’s 10.8-cent extension of recent strength in March futures.

Canadian natural gas exports are holding firm — and even managing to grow — despite persistent, widespread forecasts of decline for the northern supply mainstay on the “continental” natural gas market.

Canadian natural gas exports are holding firm — and even managing to grow — despite persistent, widespread forecasts of decline for the northern supply mainstay on the “continental” natural gas market.

As expected, a serious warming trend due to start Friday following widespread frigid weather at midweek induced softer prices at most points Thursday. Northeast citygates, which had seen huge spikes on Wednesday, recorded equally spectacular plunges Thursday.

With the start of another week of what promises to be widespread extra-hot weather combining with last week’s futures rally being extended by another 23.4 cents Friday, it was hardly surprising that cash prices were up strongly Monday at most points. Further stirrings of tropical activity in the Atlantic, including the formation of Tropical Depression 4, and the return of industrial load from its usual weekend hiatus also lent strength to the cash market.

Widespread showers and thunderstorms that would continue through the weekend in many areas, along with several cold fronts, kept cooling demand for gas light Friday. That and the usual decline of industrial load during a weekend led to lower prices at most points.