CMS Gas Transmission and Storage Co. continued its activitybinge Wednesday as its subsidiary CMS Continental Natural Gaspurchased Anson Gas Marketing and the Midcontinent Gas Pipelinefrom Chesapeake Energy Marketing. Terms of the transaction were notdisclosed.

Anson Gas Marketing purchases natural gas for resale primarilyin Oklahoma. A CMS official estimated Anson marketed 20 Bcf lastyear. The assets of Midcontinent Gas Pipeline consist of six smallgas gathering systems, which had a total throughput of 2 Bcf for1998. This transaction also includes a commitment by ChesapeakeOperating of certain volumes of gas to CMS Continental.

“As far as the Anson Marketing and Midcontinent Pipelinepurchases go, the moves help bolster our Midcontinent midstreampresence,” said CMS spokesman Kelly Farr. “By improving that areaof our operations, we move significantly closer to our overall aimof connecting the Michigan market with the major producing regionsof the country.”

This is CMS Continental’s first move since March when it forged anagreement with a partnership between Pennaco Energy Inc. and CMS Oiland Gas Co. to gather gas from the partnership’s Powder River Basinproject (see Daily GPI, March 31).

Its parent company has also been busy. Besides the dealings of CMSContinental, CMS Gas Transmission has been heavily involved in theplanning and open season of the Guardian Pipeline, a proposedinterstate pipeline intended to serve northern Illinois and southernWisconsin (see Daily GPI, April 26). Theopen season took place last month and Farr said an announcement willbe made in the next couple of weeks regarding the results.

Farr also said CMS Gas Transmission is busy trying to get are-hearing with FERC concerning the status of the TriState Pipeline, a650 MMcf/d proposed gas pipeline that would extend to the Dawn Hub inOntario from Joliet, IL, near Chicago. In late May, FERC told CMS andits partner Westcoast Energy, that the proposed route for TriState hadserious flaws and needed to be redesigned (see Daily GPI, May 27). “We think FERC misreadour proposal. Hopefully we can get a re-hearing scheduled soon sothat this bump can be worked out.”

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.