Announced

Columbia Gulf Transmission announced it has filed a request withFERC for authorization to expand its mainline by 100,000 Dth/d toaccommodate requests of 19 shippers, 14 of which will be new to thesystem. An open season late last year for Columbia’s Mainline ’99expansion yielded requests for 315,000 Dth/d of firmtransportation, most of which will be provided with existing systemcapacity. About 12,000 Dth/d that was turned back by existingshippers also will be used to serve the new requests.

Tejas Energy, LLC announced plans to build a 75-mile pipeline totransport 90 MMcf/d of gas to the city of Toluca, Mexico, locatedabout 45 miles west of Mexico City. The pipeline will move gas froman interconnect with Pemex Gas y Petroquimica Basica’s pipeline atPalmillas, Mexico to a new local distribution company formed byRepsol, which placed a winning bid for the distribution zoneearlier this year.

Williams announced its Mid-America Pipeline subsidiary willexpand its natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline system in the RockyMountains from 75,000 b/d to 125,000 b/d. The expansion involvesthe construction of a 412-mile pipeline that extends from DaggettCounty in northeast Utah to near Bloomfield, NM. The new line runsparallel to the existing Mid-America system. Construction isscheduled to begin in August, with an initial in service date ofJan. 1, 1999.

NUI Corp., parent company of six eastern gas local distributioncompanies, announced a restructuring plan designed to streamlinethe company in preparation for a more competitive marketplace. Theplan includes greater emphasis on nonregulated business operationsand a voluntary early retirement program offered to 88 of its 1,161employees, including four members of NUI’s executive managementteam, among them Lyle Motley, president of the company’s southerndivision. Further downsizing is expected once the companydetermines where it can achieve greater efficiencies in its effortto generate higher revenues from its nonregulated businesses.

Southern California Gas announced yesterday it plans to auctionits options to buy the Southern California portions of the KernRiver and Mojave Pipeline systems. The options give SoCalGas theright to purchase the California portions of the two lines, theutility’s only gas transportation competitors in the region, in2012.

Peoples Energy and Dominion Energy announced they plan todevelop and operate a 300 MW gas-fired electric generating peakingfacility near Elwood, IL, 60 miles southwest of Chicago. The $90million project is expected to be completed in time to providepower to the grid in summer 1999.

Kentucky’s two largest electric utilities – Louisville Gas andElectric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU) – announced theyclosed their merger deal yesterday, setting the stage for thecombined energy company to become a “more formidable” regionalutility competitor.

Altra Energy Technologies and Quicktrade, operators of rivalelectronic trading systems for natural gas, both announced Mondaythe launch of electronic trading systems for the power market.

Union Pacific Resources Group announced additional details ofproducing properties it will sell to raise at least $600 million byyear-end. US and international properties make up nine bid packagesand will be made available in two phases. The first phase willinclude properties in the Gulf of Mexico, South Louisiana, SouthTexas and East Texas. Executive summaries for these packages willbe available by June 1 with closings anticipated by Oct. 1. Thesecond phase of the program will include properties in the RockyMountains, Argentina, Egypt and Australia. Executive summaries willbe available July 1 with closings anticipated by Oct. 30.