Natural Gas News – May 21, 2019

Massive 2015 Natural Gas Leak Caused by Microbial Corrosion, Report Says

Ars Technica reported: A massive natural gas leak at a storage facility in Southern California was caused by microbial corrosion of well equipment, according to a new independent report from analysis firm Blade Energy Partners. The report blames the storage facility owner, Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) for failing to conduct follow-up inspections of equipment, despite knowing about 60 smaller leaks at the facility that had occurred since the 1970s. The final leak—which spewed 109,000 metric tons of methane into the air over five months between 2015 and 2016—was the biggest methane leak in US history. For more on this story visit https://bit.ly/2Jw1D7R

NRG Energy Buys Retail Electricity and Natural Gas Business for $300M

Biz Journals reported: NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG), which has dual headquarters in Houston and New Jersey, is scooping up another business that will grow the company’s market share in Texas and other states. In the all-cash deal, NRG will pay $300 million plus working capital for Dallas-based Stream Energy’s retail electricity and natural gas business, according to a May 20 press release. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 and add $65 million in annual EBITDA, per the release. Stream serves more than 600,000 residential customer equivalents in nine states and Washington, D.C., and the deal is expected to increase NRG’s market share in Texas, Pennsylvania and a number of other markets in the eastern U.S., per the release. A residential customer equivalent is an industry term for the typical yearly consumption by a single-family residential customer, with one RCE representing 1,000 therms of natural gas or 10,000 kWh of electricity, the release explains. For more on this story visit  https://bit.ly/2LZyZOk