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The downhill run for cash prices got a little steeper Wednesday, and any potential leveling off space remained beyond the horizon. Declines tended to range from about a nickel to 15 cents, but most were a dime or more. Once again, Rockies pipes either experienced less softening than the general market or even ranged from flat to a smidgen higher in a few cases as the region remained a bit warmer than most of the nation, although a mild cooling trend was under way.

With increased natural gas exploration and production spurring the need for additional transportation capacity, open seasons on new and recently expanded pipeline and gathering systems in the country continue to spread like wildfire. Okeanos Gas Gathering Co. LLC and Destin Pipeline are just two of the most recent to roll out solicitations.

The California Public Utilities Commission held a workshop last Friday to begin sorting out the wide variation in interpretations of what the state bulk electricity buying agency, the Department of Water Resources (DWR), needs in reimbursement from utility retail electric rates.

The power is still off on Texas’ deregulation pilot, which was scheduled to finally begin last Friday after its June 1 ramp-up was shut down in late May (see NGI, May 28). Pilot customers now won’t have service from their new retail electric providers until at least July 20, and maybe even later, according to the Texas Public Utility Commission.

The Oregon House has approved a bill that would delay state implementation of electric restructuring, currently set to begin Oct. 1 of this year, until early 2002. With the Oregon Senate having already given its blessing to the measure, House Bill (HB) 3633 now goes to Gov. John Kitzhaber, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

The power is still off on Texas’ deregulation pilot, which was scheduled to finally begin today after its June 1 ramp-up was shut down in late May (see Daily GPI, May 23). Pilot customers now won’t have service from their new retail electric providers until at least July 20, and maybe even later, according to the Texas Public Utility Commission.

Tenaska Inc. and Kiowa Power Partners LLC announced that construction will begin in early July on the Kiamichi Energy Facility, a 1,250 MW natural gas-fired, electric generating facility in Pittsburg County, OK, south of Kiowa. Omaha-based Tenaska will act as lead developer, taking responsibility for the project’s final-stage development, financing and construction. The facility will be located on a 100-acre site approximately three miles south of Kiowa, just west of U.S. Highway 69. When operational in 2003, the power generated will be able to meet the energy needs of more than a million homes, the companies said. BVZ Power Partners-Kiowa has been tapped to build the project.

FERC last week issued a certificate to Questar Pipeline to begin building its 75-mile, 272,000 Dth/d pipeline loop running from northeastern Utah to the north central part of the state. The proposed facilities would transport to western markets the growing coal-seam natural gas production near Price, UT, and the volumes delivered to Questar from Colorado Interstate Gas’s (CIG) Uinta Basin Lateral at Natural Buttes.

FERC yesterday issued a certificate to Questar Pipeline to begin building its 75-mile, 272,000 Dth/d pipeline loop running from northeastern Utah to the north central part of the state. The proposed facilities would transport to western markets the growing coal-seam natural gas production near Price, UT, and the volumes delivered to Questar from Colorado Interstate Gas’s (CIG) Uinta Basin Lateral at Natural Buttes.