Clearwater Gas System was presented the 2005 Safety Management Excellence Award during the American Public Gas Association’s (APGA) annual meeting on Aug. 3, 2005 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The award is presented to member gas companies that exemplify excellence in safety management and development of effective safety programs.
Clearwater Gas System was selected over several other member systems for its Third Party Damage Collection and the Natural and Propane Gas Fire Department Training Programs. The success of both programs has minimized facility damage and reduced customer outages while eliminating the risk of personal injury to employees, customers and the general public.
“Our Operations Department, led by Tom Sewell, operations director, has developed an aggressive process to pursue third party damage claims. This process has positively impacted our service reliability and safety record. I am extremely proud of Tom’s efforts and our employees who willingly respond to emergencies that have the potential to affect the safety of our customers and the general public,” said Chuck Warrington, managing director of Clearwater Gas. ♦

Day of Caring

Several employees of Clearwater Gas spent the day helping out the community for the annual United Way Day of Caring on August 11th. Employees report to a selected United Way funded agency and assist with painting, landscaping and other clean up items. Every year Clearwater Gas participates both in the Day of Caring and the fund raising campaign, which is currently underway. All money raised during the campaign will be distributed to the United Way's partner agencies throughout the 2006 calendar year, which will make a real difference in the Tampa Bay area.♦

Hurricane Katrina/Rita push prices upward

Just seven years ago this country was experiencing a boom in oil & natural gas supplies. There seemed to be plenty to go around, which was reflective in the price. Both crude oil and natural gas were trading below $20 per barrel and $2 per million Btu (MMBtu), respectively. However times have changed dramatically. Since 1998, demand for oil & natural gas has been increasing at a fast rate and production has had a difficult time keeping up with the pace. This was further aggravated with hurricane Ivan in 2004 and just recently hurricane Katrina sweeping through the Gulf coast. Our volatile weather has proved that any supply disruptions can have a major impact on our energy pricing. As a result, crude peaked over $70 (+250% increase) and natural gas topped the $12 level (+500% increase) due to Katrina. These price increases are a result of production shut-ins from oil & gas platforms, which will take months for all to come on-line again. Fortunately hurricane Rita didn't have the damaging winds and storm surge that Katrina dealt earlier this month, so most supply disruptions are due to the time required to shut-down & startup the oil refineries and gas wells.



Another major factor affecting the price of natural gas is crude oil. Most of the natural gas supplies are produced domestically, however, our dependence on foreign supplies is increasing each year. Increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the U.S. are supporting our growing demand. LNG enters this country on large ships from production areas such as Algeria, Trinidad and Qatar. The U.S. must bid on these LNG supplies along with other countries. If other areas of the world are willing to pay higher prices, than the LNG is shipped there. Also, many of these LNG price contracts are tied to a crude oil-based index, which further increase the price relationship between crude oil and natural gas. Therefore if crude oil increases, then the cost of LNG imports increase, which will put pressure on our domestic supply to do the same.

Over the past summer natural gas prices have sustained the highest levels in history. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that natural gas is expected to average $8.42 per MMBtu for 2006, which is about $0.40 lower than the projected 2005 price. However, this is still higher compared to the 2004 average of $6.06. So expect prices to remain high for the next year, or possibly longer. This forecast is one good reason to start budgeting for higher fuel costs and plan ahead so you can secure your energy requirements into the future. ♦