Begins

Southern Crossing Pipeline, first proposed in April 1998, took the long way home, but made it in time for 2000 winter service. BC Gas, the owner and operator of the Canadian line, announced that its 188-mile natural gas pipeline began service in Southern British Columbia.

With ceremonial taps on two cordless computer mice to power upthe high-tech control room in Calgary, Alliance Pipeline enteredservice amid forecasts that it will rapidly be put to full use.Alliance did not immediately announce the opening amount of gas inits 2,300-mile route from Fort St. John in northeastern BritishColumbia to Chicago. But industry sources said it was filling uprapidly after curing startup glitches that postponed the event fora month, with about 800 MMcf/d flowing or 60% of its scheduledvolumes. The line was installed with ability to take up to 1.5Bcf/d in order to guarantee service on its 1.325 Bcf/d inlong-term, firm transportation contracts.

Asset sales within the energy industry continue to be the nameof the game as the winter heating season begins to set in. Two ofQuestar Corp.’s subsidiaries are the latest participants, as theyhave entered into agreements to sell working interests in oil andgas producing properties in Oklahoma and northern Texas as well asan Oklahoma gas-gathering system. Chesapeake Energy Corp. hasagreed to acquire the assets from Questar Exploration andProduction and Questar Gas Management for $27 million dollars. Thesale includes working interests in 290 properties with a currentcombined net production of about 4.3 MMcf/d and 180 b/d. Theagreement was effective on the first of this month, and thecompanies hope to close the deal by Dec. 31, 2000. The producingproperties do not have long-term strategic importance to Questar,said Gary Nordloh, president of Questar Exploration and Production.The asset sale will help improve operating efficiency and result inan immediate decrease in Questar’s amortization rate, he added.

The November aftermarket failed to surprise anyone by startingout Tuesday generally well below monthly indexes andlast-of-October prices. Only the Southern California border andMalin managed to stay close to bidweek levels.

It’s been a little more than a week since the IntercontinentalExchange launched online energy trading among member companies, andthe site already has posted $1 billion in energy transactions.

California’s State Auditor General formally began contacting the state’s nonprofit electric grid operator (Cal-ISO) and wholesale spot power market (Cal-PX) Wednesday in a state legislature-ordered investigation that could lead to the merger of the two entities. The state’s electricity price spikes and supply shortfall this summer prompted legislative action in August ordering the probe.

California’s State Auditor General formally began contacting thestate’s nonprofit electric grid operator (Cal-ISO) and wholesalespot power market (Cal-PX) Wednesday in a state legislature-orderedinvestigation that could lead to the merger of the two entities.The state’s electricity price spikes and supply shortfall thissummer prompted legislative action in August ordering the probe.

To help its clients reduce the costs of doing business,DukeSolutions Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, NC, began usingonline energy auctions last week to lower the cost of natural gas,reduce procurement charges and speed up contract executions for its20 client facilities in the Midwest.

The August aftermarket began Monday with prices down a dime ormore from the last day of July in most cases, except for slightgains at a few western points. In comparison to where they expectedAugust indexes to be, several sources said swing gas for today wasflat in general but slightly lower at some eastern points.