Against

Some Capitol Hill lawmakers and energy experts believe theUnited States may be setting itself for another energy crisis 10 to20 years down the road by relying to heavily on natural gas to fuelnew power generation facilities.

Some Capitol Hill lawmakers and energy experts believe theUnited States may be setting itself up for another energy crisis 10to 20 years down the road by relying too heavily on natural gas tofuel new power generation facilities.

A small group of producers and marketers yesterday said they”fully support[ed]” the complaint in which California regulatorsaccused El Paso Natural Gas and its marketing affiliate El PasoMerchant Energy Co. of anti-competitive practices and affiliateabuse in connection with the $38.5 million contract arrangementbetween the two.

Once again up against a regulator-imposed deadline, SouthernCalifornia Gas on Monday is expected to file its latest attempt ata final, all-parties settlement in California’s never-endingnatural gas industry restructuring, which has been dragging on formore than two years.

Once again up against a regulator-imposed deadline, SouthernCalifornia Gas Co. is expected to file today its latest attempt ata final, all-parties settlement in California’s never-ending gasindustry restructuring, which has been dragging on for more thantwo years.

Williams Energy Marketing & Trading has petitioned FERC toissue a declaratory order stating that its ban against “buy-sell”arrangements doesn’t apply to the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS),particularly to the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) royaltyin-kind projects.

Williams Energy Marketing & Trading has petitioned FERC fora declaratory order stating that its ban against “buy-sell”arrangements doesn’t apply to the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS),particularly to the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) royaltyin-kind projects.

San Juan Basin and California were conspicuous Monday as theonly markets swimming against a bearish tide. All other cash pointswere falling by anywhere from a penny or two (Southwest/Rockies) to15 cents or more, with the majority of declines tending to bebetween a nickel and a dime.

The United States District Court for the Western District ofOklahoma dismissed the securities litigation filed in late 1997against Chesapeake Energy and its officers and directors and ruledin their favor. The litigation, which originally consisted of 12lawsuits but which was consolidated into one class action suit in1998, charged that Chesapeake had misstated or omitted factsconcerning its activities in the Louisiana Austin Chalk Trend fromJan. 25, 1996 through June 25, 1997. The shareholder suits allegedthat they had been mislead by Chesapeake into thinking that thecompany expected to operate successfully in the entire Austin Chalkarea, including the area outside Masters Creek, resulting in aninflated share price. Shareholders said rather than disclosingunsuccessful drilling results in the outer Masters Creek area,company insiders disposed of nearly 200,000 company shares with amarket value of about $2.2 million. In June 1997, Chesapeakeannounced it expected to take a full-cost write-down of itsinvestment in areas of Louisiana outside of Masters Creek totaling$150 million to $200 million. Following that, Chesapeake’s stockprice plummeted. In dismissing the plaintiffs’ amended complaint onMarch 3, the Court found that throughout the alleged class period,Chesapeake had disclosed to its investors the “precise risks”associated with its investments and activities in the LouisianaTrend. The court also determined that the plaintiffs had providedno factual support for their allegations of misstatements oromissions by Chesapeake.