Gulfstream Natural Gas System received the first shipment of pipe for construction of its 753-mile natural gas pipeline system. The pipe was delivered to Liberty Port in Mobile, AL, and transported to a concrete weight coating facility in Theodore, AL. “This is the largest pipeline project in the Gulf of Mexico. When you see this first shipment of pipe arrive — all 23,000 tons of it — and realize we still have 12 more shipments coming, it underscores just how enormous this project really is,” said Nancy Schultz, Gulfstream senior vice president and general manager, technical functions. “It is exciting to have reached this milestone, which marks the imminent start of physical construction.” The pipe, purchased from Berg Steel Pipe Corporation in Panama City, Fla., arrived by ship from Bremen, Germany, where it was manufactured by Berg’s parent company, Europipe. Each section of 36-inch diameter pipe, with a wall thickness of up to 1.375 inches, is 40 feet in length and weighs up to eight tons. One hundred seventy two miles of 36-inch pipe will be stored in Alabama until the scheduled start of construction in June. Additional steel pipe manufactured at Berg’s pipe mill in Panama City, Fla., is scheduled to be delivered to Port Manatee, Fla., on May 28. The pipeline is sponsored by Williams and Duke Energy and was approved by FERC in February. It will extend from Mississippi and Alabama across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.

To increase its Permian Basin holdings, Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has proposed merging subsidiary Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc. (Pioneer USA) and its 46 Parker & Parsley limited partnerships. The deals, with a total value of approximately $102 million, would allow the independent to acquire working interests in wells located in the Spraberry field of West Texas, further consolidating its operations there. Under the proposal filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pioneer would pay 25% in cash and the remaining 75% in shares of common stock. The purchase price would be allocated among the limited partners as though the partnerships had sold their assets and liquidated their partnership agreements. Pioneer will pay an amount for the partnership interests based on the partnerships’ oil and natural gas reserves values and net working capital as of March 31, 2001. Pioneer has not set a minimum number of partnerships that would have to participate to complete any of the mergers, and it is the sole or managing general partner of all the partnerships now. If approved, Pioneer expects the deals to close by mid-summer.

NW Natural, based in Portland, OR, has signed natural gas service agreements for power generation with Clark Public Utilities in Vancouver, WA and Wah Chang, a specialty metal and chemical manufacturer based in Albany, OR. Under the one-year agreement effective July 1, NW Natural will provide about two-thirds of the natural gas transportation service to Clark for temporary generators it is leasing to fill a power supply gap this summer. Clark’s temporary generators will produce about 50 MW of electricity in the next year. The one-year agreement with Wah Chang, which begins within the next month, will allow the company to power natural gas reciprocating engines for up to 14 MW of electricity.

Construction is on schedule for a natural gas-fired merchant power plant being built by a subsidiary of Constellation Energy Group in Rockland Township, PA. The Handsome Lake plant is set to begin commercial operation this July. The peaking plant, which will provide 250 MW of electricity to regional wholesale power markets during times of peak energy demand, is one of four such plants under construction in North America for Constellation Energy Group. The others are located in Illinois, Virginia and West Virginia. When all four plants are completed, they will add 1,100 MW of electricity to Constellation Energy Group’s domestic generation portfolio and support the company’s power marketing and trading business. In addition to the four peaking plants due to come on-line this summer, Constellation Energy Group is building four other merchant power plants scheduled to begin commercial operations over the next two years. Those plants are under construction in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission approved Atmos Energy’ acquisition of the assets of Louisiana Gas Service Co. and LGS Natural Gas Co. from Citizens Communications. Louisiana Gas serves 279,000 gas distribution customers and is headquartered in Harvey, LA. LGS Natural is an intrastate pipeline that provides gas transportation to industrial customers in portions of Louisiana. Atmos expects to complete the $365 million acquisitions by June 30. The acquisition is expected to add $0.02 – $0.06 per diluted share in the first full year of operations. Upon completion, Atmos will become the largest gas distributor in Louisiana and the 5th largest pure gas utility in the United States. Atmos will serve 1.4 million customers in 11 states, including 359,000 customers in Louisiana.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.