Additional

Mobil Corp. and Duke Energy announced the signing of additionalmarket agreements with Canadian buyers on Friday for Sable Islandgas production, which is due to come on stream next November withthe completion of the Maritimes &amp Northeast Pipeline project.

The Natural Gas Supply Association said it expects an additional200 Bcf/year of incremental gas demand growth by 2005 from theEnvironmental Protection Agency’s new more competitive standardsfor NOx emissions from new power generation boilers. EPAAdministrator Carol Browner signed the final rule, Utility BoilerNox New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), last week.

El Paso Energy’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) plans a newinterconnect in Casey County, KY, to deliver an additional 200MMcf/d of gas into Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) to servemarkets in parts of Kentucky and southern Ohio. The interconnect isexpected to be in service by Nov. 1. Tennessee plans to acceptnominations at the new point for November 1998 gas flow.

Barring the potential for additional gas demand that couldresult from the Kyoto global-warming accord, the Gas ResearchInstitute (GRI) yesterday projected that domestic natural gasconsumption will rise by about 30%, or 9.5 quadrillion Btus(quads), to nearly 32 quads by 2015. It predicts that producers,both in the United States and Canada, will be able to meet thedemand challenge, but it conceded that the road ahead won’t be aneasy one.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) announced it isexpanding its NIPSCO Choice program to an additional 32,000residential customers in the South Bend area this summer and willintroduce the program to Fort Wayne-area residents early next year.In addition, the number of commercial and small industrialcustomers eligible to choose alternate suppliers will increase to10,000.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is moving ahead with the sale offive additional power plants, following the California PublicUtilities Commission’s decision this week to lift a temporary haltto the plant auction in response to an appeal by local governmentofficials and a citizens’ action group in San Francisco where twoof the plants are located. PG&E is now authorized to reviewpreliminary bids (“nonbinding expressions of interest”) frompotential buyers.

An additional 1.6 million customers in 41 Ohio counties could bechoosing alternative gas suppliers this winter, followed by morethan 2.8 million customers in 57 of Ohio’s 88 counties in November1999, if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) accepts itsstaff’s recommendations. Based on good results in pilot programslast winter in metropolitan Toledo (Columbia Gas), Canton andMarietta (East Ohio Gas) and in greater Cincinnati (Cincinnati Gas& Electric), staff told the full commission the three pilotprograms should be expanded as soon as possible.

Dramatic spot price changes are expected throughout the U.S.over the next two years following the construction of proposedmajor gas pipeline projects and development of gas reserves tosupport them. A new analysis released yesterday at GasMart Power’98, NGI’s annual energy conference, by ICF Kaiser focuses on howprices and volumes would shift following several likelydevelopments: the construction of Alliance Pipeline along withexpansions of Foothills/Northern Border, construction of the Vectorand Millennium projects to move gas from Chicago to East Coastmarkets, completion of the Sable Island project and associatedMaritimes and Northeast Pipeline moving gas down the East Coast andincreased gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

FERC said it plans to begin audits of three additionalinterstate pipelines next month as part of its stepped-up effort tocrack down on abuses involving marketing affiliates. The on-siteaudits of Columbia Gas Transmission, Great Lakes Gas TransmissionL.P. and CNG Transmission are expected to get underway around May18, according to a spokeswoman.