Combine

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could go a long waytoward increasing liquidity in the pipeline transportation marketby combining capacity release and pipeline interruptibletransportation under one set of rules, according to the head of thelargest electronic gas and power trading system.

In a move that brings together two of the industry’s 800-poundgorillas, Texaco and Enron North America announced yesterday theyare combining their Louisiana assets and marketing in a new jointventure called Bridgeline Holdings LP.

Great River Energy of Elk River, MN, and Minnesota Power Inc. ofDuluth, MN, plan to combine power supply assets and customer loadsfor power pool operations. MPEX, a division of Minnesota Power,will provide power trading, least-cost supply and risk managementservices for the combined operations. Ownership of existing assetsand customer supply arrangements will not change.

The merger of Commonwealth Edison of Chicago parent Unicom Corp.and Philadelphia-based PECO Energy Co. will create a company so bigit will take two CEOs to run it, at least initially.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson told the state’sCorporation Commission the proposal by Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG)to combine deregulation with an ongoing rate case at the OCC is notin ratepayers’ best interest.

The Midwest snowstorm that gave such a lift to the first dailyprices of 1999 was being repeated to a lesser degree over theweekend and Monday, but this time there were no gains of 20 centsor more as a result. Instead, most of the cash market was flat todown as much as a dime Monday. Still-massive storage inventories,along with forecasts of warming weather in the North and a fallingscreen, were cited as reasons for the softness. Several sources described trading action as subdued.

Just eight months after it merged with United Meridian Corp.,Ocean Energy Inc. agreed last week to merge with Seagull EnergyCorp. in a tax-free, stock-for-stock deal creating the 10th largestindependent U.S. oil and gas company based on a pro forma totalmarket equity capitalization of $1.8 billion.

Houston Industries (HI) is reconfiguring its organization tocapitalize on the convergence of gas and power. HI formed HoustonIndustries Wholesale Energy Group to combine its power generation,gas transportation, and wholesale energy trading and marketingcapabilities of the company.

Ultramar Diamond Shamrock and Phillips Petroleum signed a letterof intent to combine all of the operating assets of UltramarDiamond Shamrock and the North American refining, marketing, andtransportation (RM&T) operations of Phillips into a jointventure company named Diamond 66. The deal will not affect Phillipsnatural gas activities, a spokeswoman said.