Comes

In the first of what may be a series of actual lawmakinghearings, House lawmakers on the energy and power subcommitteeacknowledged last week that for the first time in a couple of yearsthey were starting to see a light at the end of tunnel onelectricity restructuring.

In the first of a planned series of legislative hearings, Houselawmakers on the energy and power subcommittee acknowledgedyesterday that for the first time in a couple of years they werestarting to see a light at the end of tunnel on electricityrestructuring.

Scana Energy Marketing and Exxon Corp. are urging FERC to bedeliberative as it weighs Atlanta Gas Light’s (AGL) bid for anextension of the waivers and limited jurisdiction blanketcertificate that were approved on a limited basis a year ago toencourage retail gas unbundling in Georgia.

The moderate price slide that defined much of the cash marketsince late last week reached a plateau Tuesday as flat to slightlyhigher pricing dominated reports. The correlation of cash movementwith a tight-ranged screen was very high, sources said. A gradualwarming trend was just starting to be felt in the major marketareas of the Midwest and Northeast, they added, but it was lendingsupport to small price increases at citygates and in the Gulf Coastand Midcontinent regions.

Existing shippers on Transcontinental Gas Pipeline haveexpressed widespread opposition to the pipeline’s request to rollin the costs associated with its SouthCoast expansion project inGeorgia and Alabama.

Storage overhang isn’t enough to temper the optimism of EnronOil &amp Gas Chairman Forrest Hoglund when it comes to the outlookfor gas this year and next. With demand expected to grow andproduction expected to fall – 3% according to Hoglund – on softdrilling activity, the coming months are shaping up to be good onesfor producers.

Storage overhang isn’t enough to temper the optimism of EnronOil & Gas Chairman Forrest Hoglund when it comes to the outlookfor gas this year and next. With demand expected to grow andproduction expected to fall – 3% by Hoglund’s count – on softdrilling activity, the coming months are shaping up to be good onesfor producers.

Burgeoning gas demand in the southeastern United States hasspawned another pipeline project. The latest comes from ColumbiaGulf Transmission, AGL Resources, and MCN Energy Group. The trioyesterday began a six-week open season offering up to 250,000 Dth/dof capacity on the proposed Volunteer Pipeline.

Amid the fiery criticism of FERC’s proposed auction mechanism,Mississippi River Transmission (MRT) is suffering a similar fate asits proposed tariff revisions for implementing auction procedureshave come under attack from marketers and producers.