Along

The general director of Mexico’s oil and gas monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said last week that while he supports more private investments in certain sectors to make the country’s energy resources more efficient, the oil and gas industry will remain under government control. Raul Munoz Leos agreed that Mexico faces energy problems unless changes are made, but said the country can get from here to there without privatization.

The House Appropriations Committee, in a vote that split closely along party lines, last week rejected an amendment forwarded by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that would have instituted cost-of-service rates for electricity sold at wholesale in the western region.

Except for moderate declines at Northern California points, the market remained bullish for cash traders Tuesday. Rising heat levels in much of the East, Midcontinent/Midwest and Southwest combined with another morning of stronger futures to push cash higher by double digits at nearly all points, sources said.

Virtually all eastern points, along with the Permian Basin/Waha market, yielded to weak weather fundamentals and expectations of another large advance in storage injections by dropping about a dime or slightly more Tuesday. However, a spreading West Coast heat wave kept Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest numbers and those related to the Northern California market strongly on the rise.

Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCO) abandonment of its Leyden Storage facility over the next few years has prompted a series of storage and transportation changes on Colorado Interstate Gas that are designed to replace the storage service at Leyden and meet growing demand from six other customers in Colorado. The project, which was approved by FERC last week, is expected to cost $58 million and be in service in September.

Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCO) abandonment of its Leyden Storage facility over the next few years has prompted a series of storage and transportation changes on Colorado Interstate Gas that are designed to replace the storage service at Leyden and meet growing demand from six other customers in Colorado. The project, which was approved by FERC this week, is expected to cost $58 million and be in service in September.

Compression upgrades on parts of the Southern California Gas Co. pipeline infrastructure along with using cushion gas from several storage fields, including SoCal’s idle Montebello field, may be the last and best hope of avoiding a meltdown in California’s natural gas transmission pipeline infrastructure this summer under the weight of heavy demand from electric generators, a state energy expert told California legislators last Wednesday.

Temporary compression upgrades on parts of the SouthernCalifornia Gas Co. pipeline infrastructure along with using cushiongas from its idle Montebello underground storage field may be thelast and best hope of avoiding a meltdown in California’s naturalgas transmission pipeline infrastructure this summer under theweight of heavy demand from electric generators, a state energyexpert told California legislators Wednesday.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which last week set in motion anaggressive Rocky Mountain strategy, said Friday it would investC$380 million ($260 million) in its Calgary-based Canadiansubsidiary to drill 600 wells throughout western Canada in a pushto bring production there to 74,000 net boe/d in 2001.