Backing

Backing off from a statement he made in June that the oil and gas industry should be fined unless they used more local companies in offshore multi-billion projects, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said last week that he would only agree to a system of fines if the energy industry ended its usual practice of giving contracts to local companies. Speaking at a natural gas conference in Halifax, Hamm said he wanted to instead focus on the positive aspects of the industry.

Backing off from a statement he made in June that the oil and gas industry should be fined unless they used more local companies in offshore multi-billion projects, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said this week that he would only agree to a system of fines if the energy industry ended its usual practice of giving contracts to local companies. Speaking at a natural gas conference in Halifax, Hamm said he wanted to instead focus on the positive aspects of the industry.

No fooling; the April aftermarket remains quite weak in its early days. San Juan Basin/Rockies quotes dipped as low as the $3.20s Monday amid an overall market dive that saw nearly all points dropping by a quarter or more. Only a moderate rise of a little more than a dime at the Southern California border, leaving it only about a dime shy of the April index, went against the overall softening tendency.

Southern California Gas Co. filed a draft interim settlementwith state regulators last week that has backing from most of themajor end-users on its system, along with some marketers andpipelines. An alternate draft proposal from a minority of thestakeholders led by Enron, calling itself the California Alliancefor Competition, also will be filed, but probably not until afterthe holidays.

Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson says he supports phase two ofANR Pipeline’s Wisconsin 2000 Expansion that would add 194 MMcf/dof firm capacity to meet peak-day requirements and the needs of thegrowing power generation market in the state.

Dallas-based Texas Utilities supports a bill to deregulateTexas’ $19 billion electric industry. The proposal was passed lastweek by the House State Affairs Committee by a vote of 13 to 2 andnow goes to the full House for consideration.

Dallas-based Texas Utilities said it supports a bill toderegulate Texas’ $19 billion electric industry. The proposal waspassed Wednesday by the House State Affairs Committee by a vote of13 to 2 and now goes to the full House for consideration.