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To “ameliorate” the effects of natural gas price volatility thiswinter, FERC Chairman James J. Hoecker yesterday called on LDCs toaccent hedging techniques and long-term contracts, state regulatorsto make greater use of rate design and stabilization tools andclosely oversee LDC purchasing practices, and both federal andstate governments to support energy assistance and weatherizationprograms to aid low-income customers.

The explosion and fire on El Paso Natural Gas’ system insoutheast New Mexico in August, which killed 12 people, underscoresthe need for a newer gas pipeline infrastructure in the UnitedStates, according to a Department of Energy (DOE) report releasedthis week.

What do you get when you mix coconut oil and liquefied naturalgas? A minus-260-degrees-Fahrenheit Pina Colada.

It wasn’t the first trade conducted on EnronOnline when itdebuted last November that CEO Louise Kitchen was excited about.Rather, it was a trade by someone who liked to handle histransactions in a casual way, what she called a “golf course”trader.” When he completed a petroleum transaction on EnronOnline’ssystem last year, Kitchen said she knew Enron’s new launch would besuccessful.

The energy online marketplace is crowded, confused and on theverge of shaking out and consolidating, according to three whoshould know, two CEOs of successful trading platforms and a Nymexexecutive, who yesterday shared their predictions at the EnergyRiskTech Conference in Houston.

Pipeline companies are having a hard time keeping up with therapidly growing coal-bed methane production in the Powder RiverBasin. Coastal Corp.’s Wyoming Interstate Company just put itsMedicine Bow lateral into service last November and the companyalready is filing plans for a second expansion, which will addanother 675,000 Dth/d of firm capacity, bringing the total to morethan 1 Bcf/d.

With focus shifting to natural gas prices and supplyavailability this fall and winter, a proposed conversion of the old16-inch-diameter Four Corners oil pipeline to natural gas has runinto a stalemate over a Southern California Gas Co. tariff thatallegedly inhibits the new pipeline from signing up industrialloads in the southern half of the state.

Northern Border Pipeline filed a stipulation and agreement thatsettles its pending rate case with the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission (FERC). The settlement was reached between the pipelinecompany, the majority of its customers and FERC staff.

Shell Exploration and Production (SEPCo) said yesterday it isready to roll on development of a major new deepwater Gulf ofMexico project, good for an estimated 300 million boe, at the sametime it announced another deep water discovery with potentialreserves greater than 200 million boe.