With natural gas costs expected to be higher in the next fewmonths, Naperville, IL-based Nicor Gas has announced a new CustomerPayment Support Plan, which will enable its 1.9 million customerswho fall behind in their bills to spread monthly payments intosmaller amounts through the summer. If a customer receives a billin January or February and cannot make the total payment, thecustomer contacts Nicor, which will then estimate costs in futuremonths and arrange a payment plan to spread the amount in regularincrements over warmer months. Fixed monthly payments wouldcontinue until Sept. 2001. The plan joins two other programs,including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Programadministered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and CommunityAffairs, and Sharing, an assistance program administered by theSalvation Army and funded by Nicor. For information about theprograms, call (888) 642-6748.

The New York Mercantile Exchange announced a target date of Nov.15 for its demutualization, which will make it the first exchangein New York to convert from not-for-profit membership structure toa for-profit structure. Pending certain legal notifications byNovember 15, the Exchange, a not-for-profit membership corporationunder New York law, will be reorganized on that date as afor-profit membership corporation under Delaware law and will berenamed New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. A new stock-holdingcompany named NYMEX Holdings, Inc., will be formed to own all ofthe economic interests and most of the voting control in thefor-profit membership corporation. Each existing NYMEX Divisionmembership will be converted into one share of common stock inNYMEX Holdings, representing equity in the overall organization,and one membership in the exchange representing trading privileges.The common stock and trading privileges will not be separable untila majority of stockholders vote to permit separate trading of thecommon stock and trading rights. The exchange is the largestphysical commodity exchange in the world. On average, $14 billionworth of transactions occur on the exchange on a daily basis, with$3.3 trillion changing hands last year.

Pennaco Energy announced yesterday that it has posted record netincome of $3.6 million ($0.17 per share) for the third quarter2000, compared to last year’s third quarter net loss of one milliondollars ($0.07 per share). The coal-bed methane E&P companywhich holds approximately 400,000 net acres in the Powder RiverBasin of Wyoming and Montana had net gas sales of 47 Bcf or 51MMcf/d. The net gas sales represent a 13% increase over thecompany’s second quarter figure, and over six times its sales forthe third quarter of 1999.

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