Busy

After a busy year of purchasing electricity generating capacity,Allegheny Energy reported growth in both fourth quarter earnings aswell as year-end totals over 1999 levels. The company posted recordyear-end earnings of $313.7 million ($2.84ÿper share), beforeextraordinary charges, an increase of 8% over comparable 1999earnings of $307.2 million ($2.64ÿper share).

After a busy 2000, Cinergy Corp. reported a slight decrease from1999 levels in net income in the fourth quarter, but the company’send-of-year net income showed growth over the year before. Netincome after taxes for the fourth quarter was approximately $92million ($0.58 per share), comparedÿto about $93.5 million ($0.60per share) for the equivalent time period last year.

Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. has been a very busy company thisOctober, and its only just beginning. After announcing it plannedto acquire Crestar Energy two weeks ago, the company yesterday saidit has mailed its formal purchase offer to the shareholders ofCrestar, and in unrelated news, the company has sold its remaining50% interest in Gulf Midstream Services (GMS) located in westernCanada to Keyspan Corp.

FERC had a very busy day yesterday on the natural gas side.First, it upheld its July order in which it awarded a certificateto the Midwest-to-East Coast Independence Pipeline, fending offcontinuing questions about the binding nature of the project’sprecedent agreements and its market need. Federal regulators alsogave the go-ahead for Phase II of ANR Pipeline’s Wisconsinexpansion, a Reliant Energy Gas Transmission expansion in Arkansas,and awarded a preliminary determination to Transcontinental GasPipe Line for its proposed Sundance expansion in the Southeast.

California regulators ended a busy week Friday, holding another public hearing in San Diego as part of their ongoing investigation of the causes for high summer wholesale electricity prices, zeroing in on the state power market’s structure, rules and suppliers.

Last week was busy for MidAmerican Energy Holdings, as it movedcloser to completing its sale to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. while alsoannouncing intentions to step up efforts in Illinois’ retail energymarket. Once the merger is finalized, the parent of a utilityserving 653,000 electric customers and 622,000 gas customers inIowa and Illinois will become a privately-held company.

TransCanada kept the chopping block busy last week with thefinalizing of its U.S. midstream asset sale to the Coastal Corp. The$26 million transaction was originally revealed in November (see DailyGPI, Nov. 24) and completely exitsTransCanada from the U.S. midstream business.

It will be a busy day for Georgia’s gas industry today as twoseparate meetings are being held which promise to go a long way indetermining the fate of the bankrupt Peachtree Natural Gas’ 170,000customers.

For the most part yesterday cash prices carved out increases asTropical Storm Harvey lent some support to the East and maintenanceissues helped strengthen prices along the West Coast and Rockies.Yet mild weather nationwide, the expected American Gas Associationstorage report of higher-than-normal injections and a weak futuresscreen were traders’ main topics of conversation yesterday. And thegeneral consensus is that cash price increases may be hard to comeby for the next few days.