America

Tatham Offshore said yesterday that four of its subsidiaries,including Rigco North America LLC, FPS III, FPS V and FPS VI, whichown virtually all the company’s operating assets, filed for reliefunder Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the SouthernDistrict of Texas earlier this week.

“We are standing on the doorstep of some of America’s largestenergy-consuming markets: Boston, New York City, Chicago,Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco and Los Angeles. We believe therewill be about a half-dozen national energy providers. SouthernCompany intends to be one of those companies.”

Despite the study by the Mid-America Interconnected Network(MAIN) last month indicating that power supplies in the Midwesthave greatly improved over last year, there are some who aren’tquite ready to write off the possibility of a recurrence of pricespikes for the region this summer.

Torch Energy Advisors Inc. and Advantage Energy Services Ltd.formed EnerStar Services to provide oil and gas operations andtechnical outsourcing services in North America. Bill Ploquet,former president of Advantage Energy Resources, has been named CEOof EnerStar.

In a report released yesterday, the Mid-America InterconnectedNetwork (MAIN) said it expects a new peak for power demand in themidwestern NERC region this summer but power supplies should be”significantly improved” compared to the past two summers. The MAINstudy forecasts a peak demand of 48,157 MW this summer, compared to46,824 MW in 1998.

East Breaks Gathering Co., a new joint venture between LeviathanGas Pipeline, ANR Pipeline Co., and Natural Gas Pipeline Co. ofAmerica, said last week it is taking part in a $1.2 billion Gulf ofMexico joint development project between Amoco and Exxon. EastBreaks has agreed to build, operate and service a new pipelineextending from Amoco and Exxon’s western Gulf facility to aninterconnect that feeds ANR’s pipeline. Construction of the newpipeline and the producer’s deep-water drilling facility isexpected to be finished in mid-2000. Estimated reserves in the areawere not disclosed.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) praisedthe action of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit in allowing marginaloil well operators producing on public lands to suspend operationsfor up to two years without losing their leases. The announcementcame Thursday on the heels of the release of an IPAA survey showinghistorically low oil prices have increased the number of shut-insand the industry unemployment rate.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) praisedthe action of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit in allowing marginaloil well operators producing on public lands to suspend operationsfor up to two years without losing their leases. The announcementcame Thursday on the heels of the release of an IPAA survey showinghistorically low oil prices have increased the number of shut-insand the industry unemployment rate.

FERC yesterday approved, subject to modifications, a majorcontested settlement that outlines how Natural Gas Pipeline Co. ofAmerica (NGPL) will auction off long- and short-term transportationcapacity on its system. Although the Commission stressed theNatural auction shouldn’t be considered a blueprint for theproposed auction procedures that are now being considered forindustry-wide use, the decision does provide a sneak preview intoFERC’s thinking on the issue.