Allies

Natural gas and distributed electric power should be closeallies over the next 30 to 40 years as the world transitions toless dependence on a fossil fuel-based energy economy, according toproponents of different microturbines who outlined the”opportunities and challenges” of decentralized electricitygeneration May 11 at GasMart/Power ’99.

Spirit Energy 76, the Lower 48 E&P unit of Unocal, plans toform the Venture 76 Alliance with five U.S. deep-water engineeringand service companies. Each alliance member will bring specificexpertise to the development of Unocal’s deep-water prospects inthe Gulf of Mexico. As opposed to strictly project-focused teams,the alliance will be directly involved in such pre-drillingactivities as field development scenario planning and screeningconcepts for handling deep-water production.