Blast

Existing shippers on Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line haveshredded the pipeline company’s $529 million MarketLink expansionproject, saying it should be rejected by the Commission, or Transcoshould be put at risk for the cost. The project would add 154 milesof pipeline looping and 62,400 hp of compression along Transco’sLeidy Line, which extends from the Leidy hub in westernPennsylvania to New York City.

The Natural Gas Supply Association and Independent PetroleumAssociation of America made their displeasure clear over PresidentBill Clinton’s decision last week to extend a moratorium onoffshore drilling. “Cleaner air and increased use of affordable,clean-burning natural gas depend on access to the large natural gasfields off the nation’s coasts,” said NGSA President Nicholas Bush.”Continuing today’s severe restrictions on offshore natural gasproduction is simply not in the nation’s best interest.”

A rate hike proposal of Northern Natural Gas that has thepotential to cause a showdown at FERC over key policy issues got acool reception last week from Midwest municipals and smalldistributors on Northern’s system.

Cash prices rose by a nickel to a dime virtually across theboard Monday in what sources saw as “purely a weather play.”Liquidity was a bit tighter than usual as many traders hurried tofinish and head for this week’s trade fair in Houston, one pointedout. Also, a fair amount of gas had already been committed throughthe end of the fair, he said.