The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to hold a series of”summits” later this month to address the potential for more poweroutages this summer. Three summits are planned for April 24 —Hartford, CT, New Orleans, LA, and in an undetermined northern NewJersey city – with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson scheduled tojet to each one, along with utility executives, state regulatorsand local officials. A follow-up summit will be held April 28 inSacramento, CA. Richardson is expected to address measures thefederal government can take to prevent a repeat of brownouts,outages and price spikes during the summer months. While thesituation may have improved somewhat over last summer, “hecertainly doesn’t think we’re out of the woods yet,” said DOEspokesman Tom Welch.

Oneok Inc. yesterday purchased pipeline, storage and midstreamassets from Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) after FERC ruled that lastweek’s consent agreement, which imposed a number of restrictions onKMI companies for affiliate violations, exempted the operationsbeing bought by Oneok. Oneok was to have closed the deal on March31, but postponed it until the Commission addressed the concern[IN00-1]. As part of the transaction, Oneok purchased WestarTransmission Co., Caprock Pipeline Co., the Buffalo Wallowfacilities in Texas and Oklahoma and American Gas Storage L.P., aswell as some midstream natural gas gathering and processingfacilities in Texas and Kansas.

AEC Oil & Gas of Calgary, Alberta, a partnership owned byAlberta Energy Co. Ltd., acquired the majority of its key prospectsin the special Crown land sale for deeper petroleum and gas rightsunderlying AEC’s existing producing properties on the SuffieldMilitary Range. The company acquired 200,000 acres of explorationlands for $63 million, about 70% of the posted lands. “These landsare in the heart of what AEC views as one of our franchise assetregions, at Suffield, and are surrounded by existing infrastructurewhich will minimize future development and operating costs,” saidRandy Eresman, AEC Oil & Gas president. “AEC’s acquisition hasthe potential to yield recoverable reserves in the range of 25 to50 million barrels of oil, with the potential to double AEC’s oilproduction at Suffield over the next five years from the currentlevel of 16,000 b/d. The acquisition also positions AEC to add gasreserves, helping to sustain our 190 MMcf/d of natural gasproduction.”

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. is stepping up capitalspending on strength of natural gas and opportunities in itsgathering and processing operations. The company announced a fiscal2001 budget of $221.5 million, a 50% increase from last year’sexpenditures of $147.8 million, excluding the Jameson gasprocessing plant acquisition. Of the total budget, $183.1 millionis allocated to exploration and production, $36.2 million to gasservices and the remainder to corporate projects. As part of thecompany’s accelerated drilling program, $127 million is slated todrill 196 net wells, up from the $85 million spent on 111 net wellsduring last fiscal year. The focus remains on developing theBarnett shale where 136 wells are planned. The light sand fracturetechnology that was successfully applied in the Barnett will alsobe extended to wells in Limestone and Freestone counties in eastTexas, with 26 wells scheduled for this area.

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