Accelerate

The slippage in April swing prices that had begun mildlyWednesday gained more momentum Thursday as quotes fell by about anickel or more almost across the board except in California, led bydrops of about 15 cents at some Northeast citygates. May bidweekprices also softened, but only by a couple of pennies or so in mostcases, sources said.

Cheniere Energy Inc. of Houston this week detailed a plan toaccelerate its exploration program in the shallow Gulf of Mexicoregions. “Cheniere has a window of opportunity that may last 12 -18 months, during which time the economics of exploration drillingin the Gulf of Mexico will be particularly attractive,” saidPresident Michael L. Harvey. “Currently, oil and gas prices arerelatively high, but the costs of drilling are low.”

Although “storm hype” was a popular phrase in market discussionsThursday, the hype factor was beginning to fade in the afternoon asTropical Storm Bret achieved named status, prompting the Mexicangovernment to post coastal storm warnings from Tampico southward.Some strengthening of Bret is likely over the next 24 hours, theNational Hurricane Center said in a 4 p.m. CDT advisory.

Dynegy last week said it will pick up a bundle of Midwestgeneration assets to accelerate its energy convergence strategywhen it acquires Decatur, IL-based Illinova Corp. The combinedcompany will be called Dynegy and will own/control more than 15,000MW of gross domestic generating capacity, average more than 9 Bcf/dof gas sales, and serve more than 950,000 retail customers.

After a brief fling with index levels or higher at midweek, itwas back to sub-index territory Friday as the cash market, againcued by the futures screen in the absence of fundamentals, sawgeneral drops between a nickel and more than 15 cents. Mostdeclines were on either side of a dime. Despite the sizeableweekend pricing losses, nearly all points finished the week abouteven with the previous Friday’s numbers or slightly higher.

Florida Power Corp. filed plans with the Florida Public ServiceCommission to accelerate the building of a second generation unitat its Hines Energy Complex in Polk County. The unit will provideadditional capability to meet growing demand for electricity wellinto the next century. The company has offered to absorbconstruction costs for the plant in its current customer rates.

Florida Power &amp Light Co. announced plans last week toaccelerate by one year an expansion of its power generating system.The expansion will take place in phases with the first phase beingcompleted in 2001. In total, the expansion will add 2,500 MW of newgas-fired generation capacity at three power plant locations overthe next eight years with the majority coming on line by 2003.