Became

The #1 compressor at Roswell (NM) Station became unavailableFriday due to a bearing failure, causing a 30 MMcf/d reduction inSan Juan Crossover capacity, El Paso said. Repairs were expected tohave been completed Saturday.

Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. became more U.S. than Canadian producerlast week by grabbing a major foothold in the Rocky Mountainregion. The company is buying all the common shares of McMurry Oil,which owns 1.2 Tcf of gas reserves and significant explorationacreage in the Jonah Field in the Green River Basin in southwesternWyoming. It also is purchasing the 245-mile Jonah Field gasgathering system, which currently transports 320 MMcf/d of gas andis primed for an expansion to 440 MMcf/d. The transactions arevalued at a total of C$1.15 billion.

Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. became more U.S. than Canadian produceryesterday by grabbing a major foothold in the Rocky Mountainregion. The company is buying all the common shares of McMurry Oil,which owns 1.2 Tcf of gas reserves and significant explorationacreage in the Jonah Field in the Green River Basin in southwesternWyoming. It also is purchasing the 245-mile Jonah Field gasgathering system, which currently transports 320 MMcf/d of gas andis primed for an expansion to 440 MMcf/d. The transactions werevalued at a total of C$1.15 billion.

Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy last week became one of the firstutilities to offer its services through Utility.com, a one-stoputility shopping website. Under an alliance with the web site,FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas and energy-relatedservices through Utility.com to customers in Ohio, Delaware andMaryland. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Through an alliance announced yesterday, Akron, OH-basedFirstEnergy became one of the first utilities to offer its servicesthrough Utility.com, a one-stop utility shopping website. Under thearrangement, FirstEnergy will sell its electricity, gas andenergy-related services through Utility.com to customers in Ohio,Delaware and Maryland. Financial terms of the agreement were notdisclosed.

The race to serve the lucrative Florida generation market becamemore clear yesterday, as Duke Energy announced it has shelved itsproposed Sawgrass pipeline project and allied with a formercompetitor, Williams’ Buccaneer Pipeline.

The merger of BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield Co. (Arco) becamesignificantly more complicated last week. Now the companies facefederal and state opposition, but they’ve added one formerchallenger to their camp.

Reflecting the spread of East Coast chill further south, FloridaGas Transmission became the latest pipe to issue an OFO Friday.Citing significant market-area demand, FGT declared an OverageAlert Day notice for the system east of Station 12 in the FloridaPanhandle. It carried a 6% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.The pipeline also said it began maintenance Friday at Station 13.Until further notice the work will limit market-area deliveries to1.43 Bcf/d. Due to customer sourcing patterns having its SouthTexas, East Texas and M-1 (24-inch line) zones scheduled close tocapacity, Texas Eastern said Friday it is allowing due-shipperimbalance gas to be taken in those segments. All other servicepoints remain closed for taking due-shipper imbalances, Tetco said.

Shell Energy Services became Georgia’s third largest marketer last week by winning an auction with a $19.3 million bid for the bankrupt Peachtree Natural Gas’ 170,000 customers. The customer accounts may switch as soon as Dec. 1 or as late as the end of December depending on how fast the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) grants its approval of the sale, sources close to the situation said.