Choosing

Choosing to expire much more like a lion than a lamb, April natural gas futures caught fire in Tuesday afternoon trading, jumping up to reach a high of $7.40 before expiring at $7.323, up 32.4 cents on the day.

The Interior Department should keep “all options on the table” when choosing the timing and location of the lease sales to be included in the next five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program for 2007-2012, five oil and natural gas groups told Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

The Interior Department should keep “all options on the table” when choosing the timing and location of the lease sales to be included in the next five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program for 2007-2012, five oil and natural gas groups told Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

According to a recent survey, one in six U.S. consumers, or 17%,say they can now choose their energy suppliers. However, only 2%have actually changed providers.

The number of U.S. consumers and small businesses “choosing tohave a choice” in their electric and gas service has doubled sinceJan. 1 to 3 million and is expected to reach 4 million by the endof the century, according to a report by Cambridge Energy ResearchAssociates (CERA).

MichCon officials announced a successful beginning to its pilotprogram yesterday, with 70,000 of their 75,000 eligible customerschoosing a newly introduced competing supplier in the first year ofa three-year program. Stephen E. Ewing, the president of theMichigan gas utility, said the results prove customer choiceprograms can work for the entire state.

Continuing to work through the monstrous merger completed amonth ago, BP Amoco centralized its power last week by choosing theWestlake complex in Houston as its exploration and productionheadquarters, then revealing a 1,400 person job cut at the complex.Company officials said the jobs were lost due to duplication andcommodity price reasons. Overall, BP Amoco plans to lay off 1,600workers in Texas by the end of the first quarter.

An additional 1.6 million customers in 41 Ohio counties could bechoosing alternative gas suppliers this winter, followed by morethan 2.8 million customers in 57 of Ohio’s 88 counties in November1999, if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) accepts itsstaff’s recommendations. Based on good results in pilot programslast winter in metropolitan Toledo (Columbia Gas), Canton andMarietta (East Ohio Gas) and in greater Cincinnati (Cincinnati Gas& Electric), staff told the full commission the three pilotprograms should be expanded as soon as possible.