Page 5 - Intelligence Press News Today

Willie Sutton robbed banks because that's where the money was. Today, he'd probably major in petroleum engineering -- at least if he could hack the curriculum -- because that's where the money is now.

Officials at AGL Resources and Georgia utility subsidiary Atlanta Gas Light were stunned last week by a 3-2 vote at the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) to freeze the utility company's residential rates. AGL said the decision will cut its annual utility revenues by about $25 million.

Enterprise Products Partners LP subsidiary Petal Gas Storage LLC has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to further expand its gas storage facility in Petal, MS. The project would include construction of two underground salt caverns, creating 10 Bcf of working capacity, which could be completed and in service as early as the second quarter of 2010.

Even with the "unlimited" money available to spend by oil and natural gas producers in the last five years, only gas has gained volume-wise on a global basis, which indicates gas, mostly in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas-to-liquids products, will continue to take a bigger share of the market, a John S. Herold energy researcher said Friday.

StatoilHydro's board of directors has given the green light for its first project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Caesar Tonga Project, which is to be operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

After officially entering service on Jan. 1 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 6), Dominion's Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion project went into full commercial service Thursday after the Maryland segment of the project -- 48 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline loop -- was completed.

Steve Harvey, head of Energy Market Oversight, part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Enforcement, will be moving across town in two weeks to take over as head of the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Office of Oil and Gas. Harvey was recruited for FERC by William F. Hederman when Hederman was tasked in 2002 with starting up the enforcement arm to investigate attempts to manipulate the natural gas and electricity markets. As a deputy director of the origin...

Despite softening natural gas prices, the Oklahoma Energy Index (OEI) has been on the rise after leveling off and taking a bit of a breather in recent months. May saw a new record for the index, which was launched in 1995, and expectations are that its upward trend will continue based on strong regional energy patch fundamentals.

Former White House antiterrorism adviser Richard Clarke issued a 159-page report last week that finds that not only are liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers and urban import terminals vulnerable to "catastrophic" terrorist attacks, they also are "extremely attractive" terrorist targets and there is little that can be done to protect against such attacks.

Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline Inc. announced last week that it will extend by two weeks the binding open season for a project to provide incremental deliveries of up to 100,000 Dth/d of Midcontinent supplies to Enogex Inc.'s East Rate Zone near the Perry Compressor Station in Noble County, OK.