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The article focuses on the shale gas play and gas storage developments and its effect on the production investment growth. It discusses the developments and improvements made in various shale gas plays and gas storage including the Frederick Brook Formation in New Brunswick, Canada, Eagle Shale play, and the Falcon Gas Storage. It states most of the newly built pipeline will deliver shale gas to different markets including Columbia Gas, Transco, and the delivery pipelines of Florida.

Fruit softening in apple (Malus x domes tica) is associated with an increase in the ripening hormone ethylene. Here, we show that in cv Royal Gala apples that have the ethylene biosynthetic gene ACC OXIDASE1 suppressed, a cold treatment preconditions the apples to soften independently of added ethylene. When a cold treatment is followed by an ethylene treatment, a more rapid softening occurs than in apples that have not had a cold treatment. Apple fruit softening has been associated with the increase in the expression of cell wall hydrolase genes. One such gene, POLYGALACTURONASE1 (PG1), increases in expression both with ethylene and following a cold treatment. Transcriptional regulation of PGI through the ethylene pathway is likely to be through an ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE3-like transcription factor, which increases in expression during apple fruit development and transactivates the PG1 promoter in transient assays in the presence of ethylene. A coldrelated gene that resembles a COLD BINDING FACTOR (CBF) class of gene also transactivates the PG1 promoter. The transactivation by the CBF-like gene is greatly enhanced by the addition of exogenous ethylene. These observations give a possible molecular mechanism for the coldand ethylene-regulated control of fruit softening and suggest that either these two pathways act independently and synergistically with each other or cold enhances the ethylene response such that background levels of ethylene in the ethylene-suppressed apples is sufficient to induce fruit softening in apples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue of how pipeline storage services will be allocated by existing customers, with the demise of traders. Storage user groups are comprised by pipelines, local distribution companies (LDCs), marketers, independent storage developers, and electric generators. Throughout the evolution of natural gas storage use, the LDCs, pipelines, and gas producers have mutually benefited from the security of ongoing, mostly amiable business relationships between companies. Now that the credit "crunch" has restricted trading activities drastically, storage has retained the promise of accountable risk and "real" profits.