1999

Reliant Energy Retail Inc., announced last week the purchase ofall New Jersey Natural Energy’s (NJNE) commercial gas contracts.The actual agreement was signed last week, NJNE said, and customeraccounts are already switching to Reliant. Neither the number ofpurchased accounts nor the financial terms of the transaction weredisclosed. The two companies said the transition will be seamless.

Holiday weekend prices fell as expected throughout most of thecash market Wednesday, but it was hardly the meltdown that sometraders had thought possible late in the previous week. Except forthe Southwest basins and California, few points fell by any morethan a dime, and most of the Gulf Coast, Midcontinent and Rockiesdeclines were about a nickel or less.

Shell Energy Services became Georgia’s third largest marketer last week by winning an auction with a $19.3 million bid for the bankrupt Peachtree Natural Gas’ 170,000 customers. The customer accounts may switch as soon as Dec. 1 or as late as the end of December depending on how fast the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) grants its approval of the sale, sources close to the situation said.

The dire predictions that natural gas pipelines will be burdenedwith monstrous amounts of unsubscribed capacity as they enter thenew millennium don’t appear to be coming true. First Natural GasPipeline Co. of America reported it had sold out 99% of itstransportation capacity, and Tennessee Gas Pipeline announced lastweek it has sold out 80% of its 5.9 Bcf/d capacity for servicebeginning Nov. 1 of next year.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) contends a FERCdecision that found a recent auction to be “unreasonable and undulypreferential” would “nullify” its negotiated-rate authority and”aggravate” its decontracting problems.

The proposed Independence Pipeline and MarketLink expansion -the two most controversial pipeline projects pending before FERC -have won final environmental clearance, which virtually cinchestheir approval at the Commission. Last March FERC assured sponsorsit would act on these two projects, as well as the proposedMillennium Pipeline, during its fall session. Both Independence andMarketLink are on the docket for FERC’s regular meeting next week.

With Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s (BGE) deregulationsettlement in hand, parent Constellation Energy Group isanticipating the transfer of BGE non-nuclear generating plants andmaking organizational changes.

NiSource Inc. said last week it has decided to extend its$74/share tender offer ($6.1 billion) for Columbia Energy Group’soutstanding common shares until 12 a.m. Dec. 10, while itparticipates in the negotiation process recently set up byColumbia. Meanwhile, Columbia told the SEC yesterday it has begunnegotiating with “numerous third parties,” including NiSource, whoare interested in reviewing non-public information about thecompany and considering making proposals for a potential merger orpurchase transaction.

In what is possibly the largest business process outsourcing(BPO) contract to date, PricewaterhouseCoopers and BP Amoco agreedto expand their existing BPO relationship to the United States. Thedeal is valued at $1.1 billion.