Both Florida Gas Transmission and Pacific Gas & Electricextended low-linepack OFOs (see Daily GPI, Oct. 5)-FGT through Tuesday and PG&Ethrough today. Neither changed the OFO conditions. PG&E posts OFOsa day in advance, while FGT usually re-evaluates system conditionseach morning before deciding whether to declare one for that gas day.
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Transportation Notes
Destin Pipeline reported experiencing problems at both the MainPass 260 platform and the BP Amoco Pascagoula Processing Plant with”some objectionable substance” flowing into the system. It cut theVKGS Main Pass 260 point to 50% of scheduled volumes Monday. Thepoint was shut in Tuesday and no nominations are being acceptedthere until further notice, Destin said.
Shareholders Seal Devon, PennzEnergy Marriage
Devon Energy Corp. and PennzEnergy Co. completed their merger,which was announced May 20. Shareholders of both companies approvedthe deal Tuesday. More than 99% of the shares represented at theDevon meeting were cast in favor of the merger. Of the sharesrepresented at the PennzEnergy meeting, about 92% were cast infavor of the merger.
Storage-Wednesday Has Something for Both Bulls and Bears
Speculation around the much anticipated storage report continuedto run rampant yesterday on trading floors across the natural gasindustry and that coupled with steady fund buying was enough tolift the futures market higher for the third day in a row. TheSeptember contract raced off to a fast start, but was unable toretest the $2.72 high set last Thursday. After notching a $2.66high trade around 10:30 EST the prompt month was left to chopsideways before eventually settling up 4.4 cents at $2.642.
Traders Look Both Ways for Market Insight
Like a bouncing ball, natural gas futures continued to chopsideways yesterday as scale down buyers took advantage of lowprices afforded them by the market’s dip Wednesday. The Augustcontract finished up 3.3 cents at $2.179, and in doing so continuedits five-day streak of alternating advances and losses.
West Pricing Strongest; Power Alert Effects Minimal
Monday’s spot trading yielded a hodgepodge of results, with hotweather in both the East and West being the primary market force.Despite an appeal for electricity conservation in New England asregional power utilities strained to meet demand, gas prices thereshowed little change. But a western heat wave had quotes rangingfrom flat to more than a nickel higher.
Industry Briefs
Shareholders for both El Paso Energy and Sonat Inc. announcedoverwhelming approval of the two companies’ proposed mergerThursday. For Sonat, representatives for 86% of the company’soutstanding shares voted in a special shareholders’ meeting, andthe merger was approved by 98%. El Paso Energy’s stockholders alsoapproved the merger at a meeting held Thursday. Out of 93 millionEl Paso shares that voted, 95% voted in favor of the merger. Underthe terms of the $6 billion agreement, which was announced in March(see Daily GPI, March 16), Sonat stockholders will receive oneshare of El Paso Energy common stock for each share of Sonat commonstock exchanged in the merger. El Paso will issue 110 millioncommon shares to complete the transaction after the deal closes.Sonat said it expects the regulatory reviews of the proposed mergerto be completed during the third or fourth quarter of this year.
Both May and June Numbers Flat to Slightly Higher
June bidweek activity heightened considerably Thursday astraders sprinted toward the finish line, either trying to wind upeverything Thursday or leave only a few tail-end deals to completetoday. A marketer who made six Chicago citygate deals in a verytight range on either side of $2.30 said June prices were justbarely higher despite a gain of more than a nickel in the JulyHenry Hub futures contract. He thought the lack of volatility wasdue to many people leaving early for a long weekend. If moretraders were still around and working there would be more input andbreadth to the ranges.
El Paso, Coastal Score Record Earnings; Williams 1Q Lower
Both El Paso Energy and Coastal Corp. wracked up record earningsfor the first quarter, while The Williams Cos. gave a lacklusterperformance – with most of its major business groups posting lowerresults compared to a year ago.
El Paso, Coastal Turn in Record 1st Quarter Results
Both El Paso Energy and Coastal Corp. wracked up recordfirst-quarter earnings last week, but for completely differentreasons.