Promax Energy entered into a farmout joint venture agreement with Trident Exploration Corp. of Calgary to develop coalbed methane (CBM) under its Cessford properties in Alberta. Terms of the joint venture include a 12-well pilot program with all costs of the test borne by Trident, which will earn the right to commence a commercial drilling project on customary oil and gas industry terms. CBM production has become a significant and rapidly growing source of natural gas supply in the U.S., and interest is increasing in the CBM potential of Western Canadian coals. The Promax acreage hosts both shallow and deeper coal seams of interest. “The extensive and contiguous Promax land position, coupled with its database of logs, samples and seismic lines, will allow Trident to move rapidly in identifying the most prospective areas and starting a pilot project,” said Trident President Jon Baker. “Access to the Promax gas infrastructure and drilling economies will enhance the commercial potential for CBM development.” Promax is focused on natural gas in southeastern Alberta. It is well positioned to play a key role in the development of 500,000 acres of shallow gas in the Cessford area of Alberta, including platform production from the Medicine Hat/Milk River zones and potential higher productivity from up to 15 other horizons.

Excelergy Corp. is working with Microsoft to combine key elements of the Microsoft .NET application development platform with Excelergy’s open, component-based, native XML technology platform to deliver advanced web services for the energy and utility industries. Web services are collaborative, Internet-based services that make systems, applications and programs more interoperable through common communication standards. Next-generation Web services are unique in their ability to fully automate critical business and operational processes with little or no human intervention. They lead to quicker, more efficient, more accurate information delivery and collaborative exchange. Prior to Web services, a company’s systems were often collections of different proprietary applications and platforms using different standards that were not well integrated and could not efficiently exchange information. Standards-based Web services promote easy integration of these disparate applications and systems, both within and across a company’s firewalls. Web services are being developed using open, XML-based, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) approved software standards, including SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), WSDL (Web Services Description Language), and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). All of Excelergy’s products use XML and XML-based standards, including SOAP and WSDL. More information is available at www.excelergy.com.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of El Paso Corp., said Tuesday that it has accepted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) certificate authorizing construction of the Dracut Expansion project. The $35 million project will replace approximately 12 miles of existing 16-inch natural gas pipeline with a 24-inch line from Dracut to Burlington, MA, primarily using existing rights-of-way. The project will increase takeaway capacity from the Dracut interconnect by 200,000 Dth/d. Once the project is in service, the total takeaway capacity from Dracut will be more than 600,000 Dth/d. Tennessee said it expects the Dracut Expansion to be available for commercial service in the fall of this year. “The Dracut Expansion represents the next logical step in expansions from Dracut to serve the Northeast energy corridor,” said Stephen C. Beasley, Tennessee president. “Tennessee initiated the growth by completing the Eastern Express 2000 project in January 2000 and placed the Londonderry pipeline in service in September 2001. Tennessee is pleased to provide additional, reliable service by substantially increasing our capacity from Dracut with this expansion. The use of existing corridors allows Tennessee to minimize the environmental impact while delivering an economic project.”

Consumers Energy customers would see a slight dip in natural gas prices next winter under a plan the utility has filed for review by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). The utility’s gas price plan calls for it to charge up to 35 cents per hundred cubic feet (ccf) of gas from April 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003. The price for the current gas fiscal year — April 1, 2001 through March 31, 2002 — will average about 38.5 cents per ccf. “Natural gas prices hit record highs last winter in the national marketplace, then started to edge down,” Consumers CEO Carl L. English said in a statement. “The economic slowdown, higher production and moderate weather have brought the supply and demand equation back toward a better balance for customers for this winter and next winter.” A typical Consumers Energy residential customer uses about 122 Mcf of gas each year.

Baker Hughes announced that its international rig count for December 2001 was up 11 from November to 752 and up 47 from the 705 counted in December 2000. However, the U.S. rig count was down 99 from November and down 196 from December 2000. The Canadian rig count for December 2001 was 264, down 2 from the 266 counted in November 2001 and down 146 from the 410 counted in December 2000. The total North American rig count was down 101 from November and down 342 from December 2000.

Dallas-based Powder River Basin Gas Corp. has completed two wells on its Zullig County lease in Wyoming. An additional 11 well sites have been spudded and drilled to 10% of their estimated depth to secure 40-acre spacing. CEO Greg Smith said the completions represent the initial phase of a drilling plan for a total of 192 well sites on its 14,000 acre lease block. Preliminary production tests indicate the two wells each produced approximately 700 Mcf/d and have completed their dewatering phase. The wells cost approximately $70,000 to drill and complete, and Powder River expects to continue to develop the first drilling package within the next month. Thirty wells are expected to be completed by August 2002.

President Bush’s focus on security in the upcoming State of the Union message will include “the security that comes from being energy-independent and having reliable supplies of American-made fuel, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a news briefing Thursday. “Among the domestic policy issues that the president will focus on throughout 2002 are the creation of jobs for the American people, helping the economy to grow out of the recession and recover, energy independence and the development of a comprehensive energy plan. I remind you that it again is another exciting bipartisan opportunity for the country. It passed — the president’s energy plan passed the House with a rather sizeable bipartisan vote; the President hopes the Senate will take action.” There has been no decision as to exactly what day the president’s address to Congress will be given this year, a spokesman said. It usually occurs around Jan. 20.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has approved Duke Energy’s $8.5 billion (including $4 billion in debt assumption) acquisition of Westcoast Energy (see NGI, Sept. 24 ). The court determined that the arrangement is “fair and reasonable” to the holders of Westcoast Energy’s common shares and options to acquire common shares. Westcoast and Duke also have received a favorable advisory opinion on the acquisition from the Canadian Commissioner of Competition. Additionally, the Public Service Commission of South Carolina this week approved the acquisition. The companies expect to complete the acquisition by the end of first quarter 2002.

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