NGI Staff Reports

Chevron has agreed to transfer all of its oil and gas assets inUtah’s Uinta Basin to Shenandoah Energy, a new company created byThe Chandler Company, in exchange for an equity ownership interestin Shenandoah and an undisclosed amount of cash. Shenandoah alsowill acquire all of Chandler’s stock. The transactions will have aneffective date of July 1, and are expected to close by Nov. 30,subject to certain conditions and approvals.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and Oklahoma NaturalGas Co. (ONG) hammered out which of the LDC’s transmission anddistribution assets will be regulated and which will be unregulatedand open to competitive bidding. Once sufficient competition existsin the marketplace, competitors will bid to provide service usingthe unbundled assets. Unbundled assets are to be removed from ONG’srate base.

The possibility of a market-based solution to California’snatural gas industry restructuring stayed alive yesterday when moretime was allowed by state regulators for about 75 parties to hammerout a settlement. Without a deadline extension from the CPUC, hopesof a market-based solution to the state’s future gas unbundlingwould have been abandoned in favor of another round of regulatoryhearings. The settlement process now has until Oct. 27 to come upwith a broad-based agreement. The previous deadline was Sept. 6.

For the second week in a row, Pacific Gas & Electricdeclared an unusual weekday low-inventory OFO. The order, effectivetoday, carries $1/dth penalties for negative imbalances exceeding10%.

Between a plunging screen and mild-to-cool weather almosteverywhere outside the southern U.S., it hardly came as a shock totraders that Tuesday’s swing deals done for today only would failto measure up to September index levels. However, some consideredthe ability of crude oil futures to stay above $22/bbl and eventack on an extra dime a mitigating factor in keeping the initialaftermarket softness fairly mild.

With moderating temperatures, a hurricane lull and an upcomingholiday weekend pulling the rug out from under bidweek cash prices,the Nymex October futures contract also decided to take the plungeyesterday, plummeting into the $2.70s before settling in thelow-$2.80s and adding to last week’s market dip. Some observersbelieve October is destined to test at least the $2.60s before thisdrop is over.

A preliminary look at the Canadian supply situation prior to thewinter heating season shows a greater amount of field gas availablethis year compared to last, but less gas in storage and less gas onthe way, according to officials at TransCanada Pipelines.Meanwhile, market demand continues to be strong. The bottom line,said Al Jamal, manager of TransCanada’s Western CanadianSedimentary Basin Strategic Assessment, is “the supply-demandbalance is still tightening up” and will continue to do so given anormal or colder than normal winter and a continuation of flatdrilling activity.

Energy consulting company Skipping Stone Inc. is adding acommunications systems notch to its bow with the acquisition ofTransCapacity Inc., an established provider of software and systemsto automate pipeline transportation.

FirstEnergy Corp. added 30,000 industrial, commercial andresidential customers in the Midwest through an acquisition of theretail natural gas business of Volunteer Energy LLC, a subsidiaryof Williams. The acquisition was filed with the Federal TradeCommission and the Department of Justice and the parties expect toclose later this month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.