Infrastructure

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has completed roughly 20 hydrostatic tests of pipeline segments involving the temporary use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The pipeline segments passed their pressure tests, and the use of CNG/LNG also passed, according to utility officials.

In response to concerns voiced by industry trade groups, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Tuesday it was delaying “indefinitely” a portion of changes to natural gas and oil pipeline inspection procedures that the agency proposed earlier this year.

Trillium CNG, a provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) to transportation fleets, reportedly is being put up for sale by its new parent company, Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group.

The revamp of domestic natural gas storage reports compiled weekly by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) should be unveiled “any day now,” the assistant administrator for Energy Statistics told a Houston audience Tuesday.

In an era of increasing renewable sources on the electricity grid and the loss of large amounts of baseload coal-fired generation, flexibility has become a mantra for natural gas-fired power stations, as evidenced by a deal unveiled last week between a unit of General Electric and Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) utility.

Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) and The Williams Companies Inc. plan to merge in a $37.7 billion deal, including debt, to make what they say will be the third-largest energy franchise in North America and a top-five global energy company.

A subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) has asked FERC for permission to place a key pipeline element of its $76.1 million West Side Expansion and Modernization Project [CP14-70] into service early in October, about three weeks before its official in-service date.

Twelve shippers have signed up for about 90% of the firm capacity that would be available on the proposed PennEast Pipeline, which would access eastern Marcellus Shale gas for the benefit of markets in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to the project’s formal application at FERC.

On Friday, all traders had to do was look at the load-killing weekend weather forecasts to realize that committing to a three-day deal was less attractive than spot purchases.