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While the cash market seemed able to ignore Tuesday the fact that serious winter weather was starting to spread in most market areas outside the Southeast, it apparently was taking full cognizance of the situation Wednesday. The result was Tuesday’s mild softness yielding to Wednesday gains that ranged from a nickel to 16 cents but were mostly around a dime.

It took longer to accomplish than previously expected (see Daily GPI, Jan. 16), but Westcoast was able to restore processing capacity at its McMahon Gas Plant near Fort St. John, BC, to its normal 630 MMcf/d around mid-afternoon Wednesday. The capacity had been cut by about a third Tuesday due to excessive foaming of a monoethanol amine (MEA) treatment solution causing a shutdown of processing train #3.

Houston-based Burlington Resources Inc. said Friday that the Investment Canada Agency has advised the company that it will not be able complete its review of Burlington’s application under the Investment Canada Act to acquire Calgary-based Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. prior to the Nov. 20 deadline. Burlington said it intends to extend its takeover bid for the common shares of Canadian Hunter until Dec. 3 in order to accommodate the full 45-day review period provided by the act, and will mail notices of extension to Canadian Hunter shareholders. The board of directors of Canadian Hunter has unanimously recommended that company shareholders accept the offer. Canadian Hunter is an oil and natural gas producer, with gas comprising approximately 97% of its production and reserves. Burlington, a leading independent oil and gas firm, owns properties in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South America, Africa and China. The $2.1 billion in cash (C$3.3 billion) takeover bid was first announced in early October (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10).

Florida Gas Transmission said it is ahead of schedule on turbine and pipeline maintenance work for its Phase V expansion. It will be able to schedule up to 1,600,000 MMBtu/d into its market area starting Wednesday rather than the 1,500,000 MMBtu/d it had expected earlier. The turbine work is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 18. On Nov. 22, it will begin a pipe upgrade at one of its throughput stations that will take four days, during which it will schedule up to 1,300,000 MMBtu/d into its market area. Starting on Nov. 26, it will upgrade additional piping at two other throughput stations. That work will take seven to 10 days, during which it will schedule up to 1,500,000 MMBtu/d into its market area. For details call Mike Bryant at (713) 853-4874.

Its merger with MCN Energy had a significant negative impact on second quarter earnings, DTE Energy reported, but it was able to partially mitigate the impact of electric restructuring costs. It also expects improved results during the third and fourth quarters.

A spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday expressed optimism that ERCOT will be able to meet a Friday deadline to complete additional interactive testing with utilities and new market competitors before it begins operating as a single control area, which will in turn clear the way for a full ramp-up of the state’s deregulation pilot. But ERCOT’s Heather Tindall also refused to rule out further delays if the council determines that its systems are not up to snuff by the time the latest deadline rolls around July 20.

August futures were able to manage their first higher daily high in six trading sessions and posted an 8.4-cent gain on the day to reach $3.201 at the end of the truncated holiday trading session at Nymex. The increase was expected by many observers as a continuation of the technical correction this week, but, it is less certain where the market goes from here. Bearish fundamentals abound, but technicals indicate the rally could continue into the mid-$3s.

Transco reported being notified that the North Terrebonne Gas Processing Plant in South Louisiana was able to resume operations over the weekend. The plant had shut down May 10 due to a propane leak on the suction side of one of the refrigeration compressors. Its operators indicated to Transco “that restart of the plant was delayed due to problems encountered in starting up the plant’s other refrigeration compressor. We are still experiencing some problems with this compressor. As a result of the plant’s restart, delivery points on Transco will see a cutback in the recent buildup of Btu content that started when the plant went down.

Unless independent system operators in the Northeast are able to correct design flaws and lower market barriers, there is a very large risk that high and volatile wholesale electric prices will occur in that part of the country over the next two summers, especially if this summer turns out to be unusually hot, according to a recent report issued by Xenergy Inc.