August

The difference between wellhead prices and Henry Hub prices between August 1996 and December 2000 averaged 32 cents/Mcf, with Hub prices averaging 10.8% higher, according to a study by the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). However, the median value between the two of 24 cents/Mcf may be a better measure, EIA said.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has scheduled Aug. 8 to auction oil and gas leasehold rights on 218,000 acres of state forestland that are estimated to contain rich reserves of natural gas. Unlike previous oil and gas lease sales in which sealed paper bids were used, DCNR plans to conduct its first-ever online auction with the help of FreeMarkets Inc., based in Pittsburgh. Buyers may competitively bid on tracts anonymously in real time.

Midstream energy company Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) on Tuesday said its $300 million stock repurchase program announced last August has been “substantially completed,” and it now will repurchase another $100 million. The entire $400 million repurchase is expected to be completed by the end of 2002.

Midstream energy company Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) on Tuesday said its $300 million stock repurchase program announced last August has been “substantially completed,” and it now will repurchase another $100 million. The entire $400 million repurchase is expected to be completed by the end of 2002.

The “new” Enron Corp. will be a smaller company, based on hard assets with predictable revenue and cash flow, its new interim CEO said in his first press conference Wednesday night in Houston. He also was emphatic in talking about what caused the Fortune 100 company to go under so quickly. “I frankly don’t care,” said Stephen Cooper.

A former Enron Corp. employee, laid off in August 2001 shortly after former CEO Jeffrey Skilling resigned, claimed in an internal memo sent three weeks after she left the company that Enron Energy Services (EES) moved “huge” losses into its money-making Enron Wholesale Services unit to appear more substantial. The allegations, reported Thursday by the Houston Chronicle, were made last Aug. 28 in a memo to former Chairman Kenneth Lay and the board of directors.

A judge in Roswell, NM, has consolidated five lawsuits that are pending against El Paso Natural Gas as a result of the August 2000 fiery explosion on the pipeline’s South Mainline in New Mexico that killed 12 members of two extended families (see NGI, June 25; Aug. 28, 2000).

Noting that at the end of August it had experienced significant long imbalances after posting the final cash-out index, Sonat said Wednesday that “similar economic conditions exist this month.” Shipper were advised to monitor the bulletin board for possible issuance of a Type 6 OFO for the weekend if flowing supply levels and demand cause Sonat to exceed its maximum storage injection capability.

Chevron Corp. and proposed merger partner Texaco Inc. Friday scheduled special shareholder meetings for October 9, with a record date of August 20, to vote on their previously announced merger (see NGI, Oct. 23, 2000). The date of the meetings, as well as other merger-related information — including a new New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol, CVX — were contained in a filing by Chevron made Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The new company would be called ChevronTexaco.