TECO Energy gas utility Peoples Gas System, Florida’s largestretail gas distributor, announced plans to expand distributionservice to southwest Florida. Customers in the Lee County area,including Fort Myers and Cape Coral as well as Naples andsurrounding communities, will be able to buy natural gas for thefirst time.
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Chevron Discovers New Gas Trend Offshore MS
Chevron U.S.A. Production Co. announced the discovery of a largenew natural gas trend offshore Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexicothat could hold 1 Tcf of gross reserves. Chevron said the VioscaKnoll Carbonate Trend is unique to the Gulf in part because of itssize and because it’s the first offshore gas reserves to originatefrom Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. The Lower Cretaceous, however,has been productive onshore in Texas, Louisiana and in Mexico.
MichCon to Give 1.2M Customers a Choice of Suppliers
MichCon announced plans yesterday to give all of its 1.2 millionretail gas customers a choice of suppliers over the next threeyears. The Detroit-based distributor filed an application with theMichigan Public Service Commission for the program earlier thisweek. It is designed to begin next January with 225,000 customers.The plan also would reduce gas costs by 7% to $2.95/Mcf and freezethem for three years for those customers who continue to useMichCon as their gas provider.
PSE&G to Expand Residential Choice Program
Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) announced it willoffer a choice of other natural gas suppliers to an additional300,000 customers this summer, pending approval by the New JerseyBoard of Public Utilities (BPU). Less than one year ago, thecompany introduced the pilot, offering a choice of suppliers toabout 65,000 PSE&G residential customers in four New Jerseymunicipalities, Bloomfield, Piscataway, Pennsauken and Westampton.
TransCapacity Unveils New System
TransCapacity announced the creation of the gas coordinationsystem (GCS), a tool to communicate and coordinate transactionintentions to external parties so gas can be bought, sold andtransported. TransCapacity’s suite of services works as a GCS tocollect and disseminate information a user can import into its gasmanagement system (GMS).
Enron Reports 1Q Earnings Growth
Enron Corp. announced first quarter earnings and reportedincreased operating results in each of its core business groups.The company also reported another loss for Enron Energy Servicesdue to start-up costs.
Pena to Resign from DOE; Moler Eyed as Successor
With his family in tow, Energy Secretary Federico Pena announcedMonday he plans to leave the Department of Energy (DOE) forpersonal and family reasons effective June 30th, the news of whichelicited ho-hum reactions from the natural gas industry and spurredspeculation that Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler willsucceed him.
Westcoast Sells Centra Gas Alberta to AltaGas
Westcoast Energy announced it has agreed to sell its Albertanatural gas distribution business, Centra Gas Alberta, based inLeduc, BC, to AltaGas Services of Calgary for $61 million. Thecompany distributes gas to 53,000 residential, rural and smallindustrial customers in 90 communities in central Alberta.
NIPSCO Choice Gets Underway Slowly
NIPSCO announced 3,281 out of 50,000 eligible residentialcustomers in the South Bend-Mishawaka-Granger area and 920 out of1,500 eligible commercial and small industrial buyers in thenorthern third of the state of Indiana will begin receiving gasfrom alternative suppliers for the first time starting in April.
Gasoline Giant Shell Entering Retail Gas, Power Fray
Shell Oil Tuesday announced its designs on the retail gas andpower marketplace and said its Shell Energy Services willparticipate in the unbundling of Georgia’s Atlanta Gas Lightsystem. The company plans to serve residential and commercialcustomers. Other states Shell will target for retail sales are notyet known, but Shell Energy Services President Alan M. Raymond saidthe company is interested in California’s deregulated electricitymarket as well as competitive markets in the Northeast. “We will beapplying to become marketers in those states where the deregulationallows us to function, and then we’ll be setting up shop to appealto those customers.”