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The Powder River Basin of the Rocky Mountains holds more coalbed methane (CBM) reserves than previously thought, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) official, who testified Thursday before the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. However, on a less positive note at the oversight hearing on CBM issues, Gene Whitney, a USGS supervisory geologist, lowered the forecast for CBM in the Uinta-Piceance Basin.

The Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) has filed a settlement proposal with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, including a gas cost reduction of 20%, that adds up to about $171 million.

The struggle experienced by some electronic trading systems in the face of stiff competition from IntercontinentalExchange, EnronOnline, TradeSpark and other systems isn’t stopping E-lecTrade from launching its own power trading system this summer. The system is unique, however, in its effort to provide multiple structured power transaction types and risk management services real time and on an anonymous basis.

As midnight was closing in Thursday, the lower house Assembly in California’s legislature passed on a 41-32 vote a revised rescue package to restore Southern California Edison Co.’s financial viability and to inject a healthy dose of re-regulation into the market for small residential and commercial electricity consumers. The measure goes back to the state senate where it faces an uncertain fate.

Prices fell by amounts ranging from about a nickel to 20 cents in Friday’s trading. Most eastern declines were a dime or less, while drops in the teens tended to be concentrated in the West. The softening brought numbers at many eastern points back to the vicinity of first-of-month indexes; western prices, which never got back near indexes during last week’s moderate firmness Tuesday through Thursday, just fell further behind.

On its way to becoming the leading North American independent, Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. will become the biggest owner of Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea drilling prospects if its takeover bid for Anderson Exploration Ltd., announced last week, succeeds.

Kern River Gas Transmission Co., a unit of Williams, is holding a binding open season for seasonal and year-round firm backhaul transportation service from a new interconnect with Questar Pipeline’s ML No. 104 near Elberta, UT, to markets along the Wasatch Front upstream of the interconnect.

Stemming a two-week, $1.25 price slide, natural gas futures rebounded last week amid neutral to bullish fundamental factors and increasing constructive technical clues. After carving out a fresh 19-month prompt month low by trading down to $2.255 earlier in the week, the October contract finished strongly at $2.50 Friday, up 6 cents for the session and just beneath its $2.53 high for the week.

The prospect of the first significant voluntary production shut-ins in years is looming for the gas industry in about another month or so, according to an informal sampling of opinions among the trading community (“voluntary” means unrelated to a hurricane, pipeline maintenance or force majeure event). While a majority of sources fully expect to see such shut-ins beginning within a few weeks, it’s not a foregone conclusion, said a few dissenters.