NGI Staff Reports

President Clinton signed into law this week a bill thatestablishes a multimillion dollar federal loan-guarantee program tohelp independent oil and natural gas producers recover from theeffects of depressed crude oil prices. The measure was passed bythe House earlier this month, and approved by the Senate in June.

The Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works (CPW), the municipalorganization responsible for the energy needs for the city ofGreenwood, SC, said it has entered the market for a total energyprovider. The CPW is searching for companies with tangible assetsto provide comprehensive energy supply services, including powersupply and gas supply. Energy supply proposals may includealternatives ranging from full requirements service to thedevelopment of owned generating resources, the CPW said.

During Sept. 7-11 maintenance on its Topock (AZ) Lateral andrelated facilities, Transwestern expects no flows to either SoCalGas or PG&E at their Topock interconnects. However, thepipeline said it is investigating “limited alternative deliveryarrangements” for the two points. It will be able to schedule up to300,000 MMBtu/d at Mojave Pipeline’s Topock interconnect.

Traders resurrected a phrase they hadn’t been using very muchlately: “following the screen.” Like a rising tide that lifts allboats, the Henry Hub futures contract for September turned in astrong performance Wednesday and spurred moderate firmness in cashnumbers. In the absence of substantial change in marketfundamentals, there was little besides the Nymex pit for cashguidance, a marketer said.

Propelled by a tropical depression swirling in the Bay ofCampeche and concerns of yet another bullish storage report,natural gas futures spiraled higher yesterday as traders coveredshort positions. That buying interest pushed the September contractto $2.805 — the highest mark for a spot month contract sinceDecember of 1997 — before settling at $2.792 for the session.

FERC has been asked to place an immediate hold on Southern LNGInc.’s applications to reactivate and upgrade its mothballedliquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and send-out facility on ElbaIsland in Georgia, pending the outcome of a probe into thecompany’s open-season procedures.

Southern California Gas Co.’s proposed restructuring plan hasbeen pushed aside by six new confidential alternatives becausecertain aspects of the utility’s plan have been deemedanticompetitive and have the potential to allow gaming at theTopock, AZ, receipt point, according to participants in settlementdiscussions taking place at a downtown Los Angeles hotel.

Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing of America (MMMA) announced itentered into a multi-year agreement with Duke Energy’sDukeSolutions Inc. to manage energy service for Mitsubishi’stwo-million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Normal, IL. Over thecontract term, DukeSolutions will support up to $30 million ofenergy expenditures for MMMA. Duke is the third major integratedenergy company to enter into a multimillion dollar energymanagement deal this week, joining Sempra and FirstEnergy.

Devon Energy Corp. and PennzEnergy Co. completed their merger,which was announced May 20. Shareholders of both companies approvedthe deal Tuesday. More than 99% of the shares represented at theDevon meeting were cast in favor of the merger. Of the sharesrepresented at the PennzEnergy meeting, about 92% were cast infavor of the merger.