Board

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) closed an hour earlyyesterday, due to a power outage on the western loop area ofCommonwealth Edison’s (ComEd) power supply system. Thomas Donovan,CEO of the CBOT, said the outage was caused by three out of fourtransformers in the West Loop being out of service. ComEd did notreturn phone calls. The outage left 2,300 people in the heart ofChicago without power. Although no gas contracts are traded at theCBOT, the two electricity contracts traded at the exchange wereclosed at 2 p.m. EST. The exchange said its open outcry marketswill open normally today, and its electric trading system, ProjectA, is scheduled to open at 8 a.m. (Chicago time). There was noovernight trading at the CBOT.

Although no panic buttons have been pushed yet, the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) is getting increasingly worried about the recent lack of activity on its gas futures contract. There has been no estimated volume since July 29, and as a result, open interest has been stuck at 669 positions.

Although no panic buttons are being pushed yet, the Kansas CityBoard of Trade (KCBT) is getting increasingly worried about therecent lack of activity on its gas futures contract. There has beenno estimated volume since July 29, and as a result, open interesthas been stuck at 669 positions.

Reliant Energy’s board of directors elected Eddie Meche to thepost of vice president and chief risk control officer for Reliant.Meche joined Reliant in 1997 and most recently served as vicepresident for risk control for the company’s Wholesale Group.

Mojave Pipeline reversed an earlier bulletin board posting (see Daily GPI, June 16), emphasizing that itwould “not” shut in part of its West Lateral Thursday and cause theshut-ins of “17Z”-labeled interconnects with Chevron, Mobil, Shell andTexaco. However, Mojave said, a maintenance shut-in of the Oxy 17Zinterconnect was to proceed as scheduled Thursday and today.

As expected, cash prices for the long weekend that ended Maywere down across the board Friday, although not by as much at somepoints as sources had expected. A strong performance by the HenryHub futures contract for July largely failed to counteract a lot ofmild weather and the gas demand slump that nearly alwaysaccompanies a holiday period. The changes varied widely from barelyoff a penny or two to as much as 15 cents down, with almost everydegree in between represented.

South Jersey Gas Co. filed a petition with New Jersey’s Board ofPublic Utilities (BPU) to increase eligibility in its customerchoice pilot program from 25,000 to 50,000. The announcement marksthe second time in the past 12 months the utility has increased thesize of its pilot. The BPU has set Dec. 31 as a deadline to definecomplete statewide gas deregulation. South Jersey said 22,000customers have participated in the program. The utility serves260,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in thestate.

The Canadian-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and the NovaScotia Petroleum Directorate awarded 19 offshore Nova Scotiaexploration licenses and three onshore licenses yesterday for atotal of C$592 million, the largest investment in petroleumexploration ever made in Nova Scotia.

A partnership between Sempra Energy International and PublicService Enterprise Group (PSEG) won approval from the board ofdirectors for Chilquinta S.A. to buy Chilquinta Energia, for $830million, Chilquinta announced Tuesday. Chilquinta Energia isChile’s third-largest electricity supplier, serving 405,000customers. Along with Chilean electricity supply, the Sempra – PSEGpartnership would acquire Energas, a Chilean natural gasdistribution company. Energas began service in May of 1998 andplans to reach 50,000 customers by 2003. Both Sempra and PSEG saidthe deal will progress their Latin America growth strategies andlook forward to entering into the Chilean electric market, whichhas grown 8% each year since 1991, compared to 1%-2% in the U.S.The deal is contingent on the buyers’ review and approval ofschedules for the definitive stock purchase agreement. Both Sempraand PSEG expect the purchase to be accretive in 1999. The $830million would net 90% of Chilquinta Energia’s stock for thepartnership. Upon final acquisition, Sempra and PSEG will be ableto make a tender offer to acquire the remaining 10 percent ofChilquinta Energia shares from other shareholders.