NERC: Enough Power For Summer; Longer-Term Concerns Persist Customers Driving Push Toward Renewable Energy, Utilities Say West Power Prices Rise; Texas Generators Bemoan Roller-Coaster Quotes Texas Retail Provider Investigated Following Rate Hike Maryland-Based Power Developer Eyes PG&E Contract Ontario Ministry of Energy Seeks Expanded Solar Use BPA Cuts New Deal with U.S. Treasury FPL Energy Adds 159 MW North Dakota Project to Wind Portfolio Texas Utility Seeks Air Conditioning Cycling to Manage Load Carbon Solutions Need New Technology, Utility CEOs Say Fuels of the Future Costing Taxpayers NEB: Canadian Electricity Exports Up 23% in 2007 Low Water Spurs Forward Purchases by California Generators Minnesota Power to Increase Wind Generation, Decrease Coal McCain Favors Cap-and-Trade System to Limit GHG Emissions California Governor Tells Candidates to Reduce Carbon Carlsbad, CA, Officials Urged to Fight NRG Repowering California Governor Urges Tax Credit Extension Arkansas Hunting Group Seeks to Block $1.3B SWEPCO Plant Edison Mission, Suppliers Fighting Ill Winds California Utilities Enjoy Rate Decoupling, High ROEs Sempra: California Capacity Market 'Work in Progress' Bastardi: East Coast to Bear Brunt of Hurricane Season Midwest Power Prices Slide; On-Peak CA Power Spikes Global Power Producer Buying PJM, MISO Plants for $856M TransCanada Inks 20-Year Deal to Supply Power From Proposed AZ Plant PGE Moves Ahead on Wind, Smart Meters; Hydro Lags DOE Report: Wind Could Be 20% of U.S. Mix by 2030 California's Imperial County to Ride Renewables' Economic Wave Post-Chapter 11 Calpine Transition Mixed: Losses, Better Margins Southeast, Mid-Atlantic Fuel Prices at All-Time Highs, Mirant CEO Says

Weather, Screen Cause Double-Digit Gains at All Points
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
Prices realized double-digit increases across the board Wednesday, propelled by rising heat levels in the West, chillier weather in the Midwest and the previous day's 12.1-cent advance by June futures.( more )

Futures Climb as Independence Hub Restart Gets Pushed Back
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
Concern surrounding the delay in restarting the Independence Hub natural gas deepwater production platform in the Gulf of Mexico gave bulls a little boost overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday as June natural gas futures recorded an overnight high for the move of $11.794 before closing out Wednesday's regular session at $11.598, up 17.6 cents from Tuesday's close.( more )

Independence Restart Now Set for 'First Half of June'
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The wait for the Independence Hub natural gas deepwater production platform in the Gulf of Mexico to come back on-line got a little longer Tuesday night as Enterprise Products Partners LP announced that it was revising the restart date from "mid-May" to the "first half of June," provided there are no "unexpected weather issues." ( more )

LNG, Post-Carbon Policy Seen Dominating U.S. Gas Future
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
In the long term North America will be the dominant liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions control will increase demand and price pressures on gas, ultimately end-use customers for both electricity and natural gas utilities will face ever-larger rate increases, a panel of major U.S. utility executives said Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Eighth Annual Power and Utility Conference in New York City.( more )

Polar Bears Declared Endangered; Harm to Economy 'Limited'
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne is accepting the recommendation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move he said Wednesday would protect the bears "while limiting the unintended harm to the society and economy of the United States."( more )

Utah's Gas Output Up 8%, Surpasses 1 Bcf/d Mark
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
Utah's natural gas production surpassed the 1 Bcf/d mark in 2007, up 8% or almost 79,500 Mcf/d from 2006, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR).( more )

House OKs Farm Conference Report Boosting CFTC Oversight
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The House of Representatives Wednesday passed by an overwhelming margin a conference report on the nearly $300 billion farm bill that contains a provision to close the so-called "Enron Loophole," which for years has exempted large electronic trading platforms from the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).( more )

FERC OKs Service on Part of Creole Trail Pipe
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
FERC Tuesday gave the go-ahead for Cheniere Creole Trail Pipeline to place into service much of its pipe system that will serve two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Louisiana.( more )

Oregon Energy Report Says LNG Unnecessary
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The Oregon Department of Energy has issued a report concluding that it would be less expensive and less carbon-intensive to get additional future natural gas supplies via interstate pipelines from the Rocky Mountains rather than imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). Rockies supplies can be produced with significantly less life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impact than gas from LNG imports, said the report ordered earlier in the year by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.( more )

BLM Seeks Comment on Devon's Baxter Shale 3-D Seismic Plan
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened for comment a plan by a subsidiary of Devon Energy Corp. to do some 3-D seismic testing on the Baxter Shale, which is located in a remote area of Wyoming -- a controversial project that the state's governor has tried to stop. ( more )

CERA: Upstream Building Costs Climb 6% in Six Months
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The costs to construct new oil and natural gas upstream facilities have jumped 6% in the past six months and have doubled since 2005, according to the most recent IHS/Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) Upstream Capital Costs Index. ( more )

API Media Blitz Seeks to Educate Public, Policymakers
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 15, 2008
The oil and natural gas industry is carrying out a media blitz to educate policymakers and the general public about the market at a time when opinions of the industry are at their lowest level due to high gasoline and natural gas prices.( more )

Trading Executive: Market 'Dramatically Changed' From Year Ago
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
People have been calling oil "black gold" at least since the days of Beverly Hillbilly Jed Clampett. Today, though, it really is; and that fact marks the multi-billion-dollar migration of investors from equities to commodities that has helped bring a bit of chaos to the energy trading patch.( more )

Senate Votes to Halt SPR Deliveries, Block Producer Access
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
Senate Democrats Tuesday blocked a Republican amendment that sought to make more federal onshore and offshore lands available to producers. At the same time both sides overwhelmingly passed (97-1) a Democratic amendment to temporarily suspend shipments of crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ease gasoline prices.( more )

NEB: Canada's Gas Production Fell 2% in 2007
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
Canada's natural gas production last year averaged 16.8 Bcf/d -- roughly 2% less than in 2006 -- but crude production jumped 7% on record high oil prices, according to the National Energy Board (NEB).( more )

Canada's E&P Prospects Looking Better, Say Analysts
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
Stronger-than-expected earnings results in the first three months of this year has led several energy analysts to raise their 2008 expectations for Canada's exploration and production (E&P) companies.( more )

ExxonMobil: Point Thomson Termination Threatens Alaska Gasline
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
ExxonMobil Corp. has asked Alaska's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to reconsider its termination of the North Slope Point Thomson Unit (PTU) leases held by it and BP Exploration (Alaska), Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and ConocoPhillips Alaska. The company also filed a claim with DNR for $800 million in damages as a "precautionary matter" and warned that the PTU termination threatens the state's gasline plans.( more )

Federal Subsidy for Wind $23.37/MWh; Natural Gas 25 Cents/MWh
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
While there may be future rewards in terms of diversification of energy supply, energy security and environmental protection, the American taxpayer currently is paying a high price for development of the power generation fuels of the future, according to a recent report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).( more )

Decoupling, High ROEs Favor California Utilities
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
Sempra Energy CEO Don Felsinger said Tuesday California offers several regulatory advantages to utilities, such as Sempra's two in Southern California -- rates not dependent on ever-increasing sales volumes, and return on equity (ROE) that is relatively generous.( more )

Petal Storage Project Gets Favorable Environmental Nod
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 14, 2008
FERC has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) of Petal Gas Storage LLC's proposal to expand the working gas capacity at its storage facility in Forrest County, MS.( more )

EnCana to Split into Separate Gas and Oil Companies
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
Calgary-based EnCana Corp. Sunday announced it was splitting into two separate companies -- one a pure play in unconventional natural gas and the other an integrated oil company with some existing southern Alberta shallow gas. Given all the regulatory approvals, EnCana expects the new companies to be formed by early next year at a collective after-tax cost of "less than $300 million," the company said.( more )

EnCana Wants to Divide, Then Conquer
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
EnCana Corp.'s strategy to divide and conquer, which apparently came after three years of internal debate, drew an enthusiastic cheer from investors and energy analysts Monday, sending the company's share price to a new high and setting off rumors that one or both of new entities could be attractive takeover targets (see related story).( more )

BC Gas Basin Could Be Horn O' Plenty
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
Estimates of the recoverable natural gas resources in British Columbia's Horn River Basin now appear to average around 37 Tcf, which would be comparable in size to the gas reserves of Alaska's North Slope, a preliminary analysis by Wood Mackenzie suggests.( more )

Analysts: Global LNG Will Continue to Spurn U.S. Shores
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
Fort Worth, TX-area residents who've grown weary of Barnett Shale gas drilling commotion in their backyards might want to move near one of the nation's liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminals for a little peace and quiet. Gas-rich resource plays are booming; U.S. LNG regas terminals, not so much.( more )

Bastardi: This Season's Hurricanes Heading Eastward
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
The East Coast will be at greater risk this coming hurricane season even though the number of named storms is expected to be about average, and Gulf of Mexico interests can expect seven to 10 days with at least the threat of weather disruptions, AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center meteorologists said Monday.( more )

TransCanada Finds Partners on Proposed 1.2 Bcf/d Pathfinder Pipeline
from NGI's Daily Gas Price Index  May 13, 2008
In the race to build new takeaway natural gas pipeline infrastructure out of the Rockies, the proposed Pathfinder Pipeline project received a boost Monday as TransCanada Corp., affiliates of Enterprise Products Partners LP and Quicksilver Gas Services LP signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which Enterprise and Quicksilver Gas Services would acquire up to an aggregate 50% ownership in the project and commit to ship a total of 500 MMcf/d for a 10-year term.( more )