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The fate of a multibillion dollar pipeline that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of North Slope gas reserves daily and power North American homes and businesses for decades now rests in the hands of 20 Alaska state senators.

On Wednesday, the Alaska House of Representatives reaffirmed its Tuesday night vote to award an exclusive license to TransCanada Corp., which must move forward on federal permitting applications for the 1,715-mile pipeline estimated to cost between $26 billion and $30 billion.

This leaves the Senate to approve or reject the license by Aug. 2. Republican Senate President Lyda Green said her energy committee still has a few questions to pose, but she expects for the Senate to vote on Gov. Sarah Palin’s license recommendation by late next week.

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Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd, part of John Wood Group PLC (”Wood Group”), has been awarded a contract by BP to design and install a new gas processing plant at BP’s Sullom Voe Terminal (SVT).The multi-million-pound refurbishment will replace the existing 25-year old gas processing plant with a slimmed down 21st century model and will result in a significantly reduced gas inventory being managed on the site while at the same time maximizing efficiency.

The project will also reduce operating costs and eliminate the need for the planned 2010 major turnaround, modifications and fabric maintenance works on the existing plant.

George Brown, Managing Director of Wood Group Engineering (North Sea), said, “We are delighted that we have been chosen to design, procure and construct this major upgrade of new facilities at Sullom Voe, continuing our long-term relationship with BP.”

Work is already underway following the successful front end development study and the project is due to be completed by August 2010.

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Spain’s Gas Natural and Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom have agreed on terms allowing them to trade liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes quickly in the future, the companies said on Monday.

The agreement, signed on July 2, defines general terms for each company to sell the other spot cargoes of LNG and could be extended to include power, carbon and pipeline gas trade.

Gazprom, the biggest supplier of pipeline gas to Europe, has a 51 percent stake in the major Shtokman project in the Barents Sea, which is expected to begin producing 23.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013 and begin LNG production in 2014.

The Russian company has been expanding into LNG, power and carbon markets through its GM&T subsidiary based in London.

Gas Natural, in partnership with its biggest shareholder Repsol, is one of the biggest players in the growing global LNG market.

“When opportunities come and market conditions are favorable, Gazprom Marketing & Trading and Gas Natural SDG will be in a position to execute LNG transactions quickly,” said Frederic Barnaud, GM&T’s LNG Director.

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A year after taking over the Lima Refinery, Husky Energy officials are on the verge of announcing their plans for the plant’s future.

Another major liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer has raised concerns that the Federal Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme will unfairly penalize the industry.

Chevron says it is worried about the potential impact the scheme could have on two major projects it is developing.

Fellow LNG corporation Woodside has also warned that the proposed scheme will put billions of dollars of investment at risk.

Chevron’s John Torkington has echoed Woodside’s concerns that recent efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, means the LNG industry will not get compensation under the scheme.

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Energy trading, transaction and risk management (ETRM) software is that category of software applications, architectures and tools that supports the business processes associated with energy trading. In this sense, energy trading means the buying and selling of energy commodities such as crude oil, coal, natural gas, electric power and refined products, the management of the movement and delivery of the energy commodities and associated risk management activities. ETRM software comprises a broad set of functions that can vary considerably depending on what commodities are traded, what assets are employed in the business, where those assets are located, and what the company’s business strategy and associated business processes are. Today, the impact of regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and recommendations from the Committee of Chief Risk Officers, amongst others are having a further impact on the requirements for ETRM software.

Usually and in the broadest sense, ETRM solutions are fully integrated sets of software that help to manage the front, middle and back office aspects of an energy trading entity. Although definitions and organizational structures differ quite widely, the front office is usually concerned with deal capture and position management, the middle office with managing and reporting various risk exposures as a result of trading activities and the back office with settlements and accounting functions. Additionally, there will usually be a scheduling component to ETRM solutions allowing the energy company to plan, track, manage and account for quantities of energy that have to be physically moved from source to point of usage.

UtiliPoint estimates the total market for ETRM software as perhaps around $30-60 million annually in North America alone. But the ETRM software market is still relatively immature and continues to evolve rapidly with more than 65 vendor provided solutions in the market and between a 40 percent to 60 percent penetration rate for vendor-provided software.

The ETRM software market has mirrored the changes that have taken place over the last 15-years in wholesale energy markets with boom periods followed by slowdowns as the industry absorbed structural or regulatory changes. UtiliPoint calls these periods of industry change dislocation events. To understand the ETRM software landscape, one needs to understand the industry’s history of change and in particular, how these dislocation events impacted the vendor community and its software products.

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Here’s a shocker: Electricity bills are heading up. Utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29%, mostly to pay for soaring fuel costs, but also to build new plants and refurbish an aging power grid.
Jun 16 - USA TODAY

All about oil and gas products.