NGI Staff Reports

A broad coalition of gas and electric trade groups has askedFERC to reconsider a July rehearing decision that prompted it topurge any reference to immediate relief from its final rule oncomplaint procedures.

Destin Pipeline Co. L.L.C. has beseeched FERC not to suspend itsPart 157 blanket certificate authority for six months, which woulddeny it access to the more streamlined certificate procedures forconstructing projects during that period. Without it, the pipelinewould have to seek Section 7 approval under the Natural Gas Act(NGA) for each project at the Commission.

September prices were a little lower following the weekend, butsome sources saw something of a yo-yo effect with quotes regaininga penny or two in the afternoon as the October screen managed toachieve a small advance. A buyer at the Chicago citygate said hisdeals averaged just over $2.90 on Friday and just under $2.90 onMonday.

October Henry Hub futures appeared likely to continue lastweek’s downward correction early yesterday in its debut as the newnear-month contract. It opened down nearly 4 cents and took anearly step backward to $2.860, but local buying prompted an11.5-cent intra-day surge to a high of $2.975. The contract settledat $2.969, up 4.7 cents on the day, and the relatively strongup-tick continued during the after-hours Access trading session,with October inching up 1.6 cents to $2.985 as of 6:30 p.m.

Columbia Energy Group subsidiary Columbia Energy Services (CES)yesterday said it would sell its Houston-based wholesale andtrading operations. The move follows a review of CES’ overallenergy marketing businesses begun in February after the unitreported a $59 million operating loss for 1998.

ARCO shareholders approved the company’s proposed $27 billioncombination with BP Amoco. The all-share deal will involve theexchange of 0.82 BP Amoco American Depository Shares (ADS) for eachARCO share. BP Amoco’s shareholder meeting to vote on thecombination is scheduled for Wednesday in London. The combinationremains subject to the approval of regulatory authorities,including the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the EuropeanCommission. The companies currently are working to close thetransaction later in the year.

With only a day left before the capacity now held by DynegyMarketing and Trade on El Paso Natural Gas opens to bids for nextyear, parties are continuing to fight over the legality of theoriginal contract.

Both independent and major producers are concerned that FERC’sproposed rulemaking on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), whichseeks to extend to virtually all OCS gas pipelines some form oflighter handed regulation, is the first step in a Commission planto entirely abandon its Natural Gas Act (NGA) regulation ofoffshore jurisdictional pipelines.

Columbia Natural Resources (CNR) kept its whirlwind ofAppalachian Basin activity alive yesterday, by announcing thepurchase of gas fields and related assets in Steuben County, NY,from Pittsburgh, PA-based Meridian Exploration Corp. No financialterms of the deal were disclosed. CNR took control of the assetslast week.