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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week told El PasoNatural Gas to continue full-steam ahead on its reallocationprocess at the Topock, AZ, delivery point into Southern Californiadespite pleas by Southern California Gas that its ratepayers couldsuffer irreparable harm from the plan.

Asset sales within the energy industry continue to be the nameof the game as the winter heating season begins to set in. Two ofQuestar Corp.’s subsidiaries are the latest participants, as theyhave entered into agreements to sell working interests in oil andgas producing properties in Oklahoma and northern Texas as well asan Oklahoma gas-gathering system. Chesapeake Energy Corp. hasagreed to acquire the assets from Questar Exploration andProduction and Questar Gas Management for $27 million dollars. Thesale includes working interests in 290 properties with a currentcombined net production of about 4.3 MMcf/d and 180 b/d. Theagreement was effective on the first of this month, and thecompanies hope to close the deal by Dec. 31, 2000. The producingproperties do not have long-term strategic importance to Questar,said Gary Nordloh, president of Questar Exploration and Production.The asset sale will help improve operating efficiency and result inan immediate decrease in Questar’s amortization rate, he added.

Kansas City Power & Light yesterday announced theappointment of Bernard J. Beaudoin as CEO effective Jan.1, 2001.Beaudoin also will continue to be president as appointed in 1999.Beaudoin joined the company in 1980 as director of corporateplanning, and was named vice president of finance in 1984 andsenior vice president of finance in 1991. In 1992, he becamepresident and director of KLT Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary ofKCP&L. Beaudoin will be assuming the CEO title from DrueJennings who currently serves as chairman of the board. Jenningswill remain chairman until the company’s annual shareholders’meeting on May 1, 2001 when he will retire from KCP&L. Thecompany also announced the appointment of Andrea Bielsker to thepositions of CFO and vice president of finance & treasurer.Bielsker has been with the company since 1984.

Northwest Pipeline said yesterday if primary nomination requestscontinue to exceed the Kemmerer north flow capacity, starting onThursday it will begin an OFO. Since Oct. 27, scheduled gas throughthe Kemmerer Compressor station has exceeded capacity because of ashortfall in displacement volumes on all but one day. Recently, northflow primary nomination requests through Kemmerer have been up to50,000 Dth in excess of available capacity. Northwest said capacity isinsufficient to meet the north flow nomination requests — withoutsystem design displacement volumes — through Kemmerer and stillmaintain system reliability. Under the OFO provisions, shippers willbe notified to realign nominations from receipt points south ofKemmerer to receipt points north of Kemmerer. In addition, Northwestadvises that “affected shippers” recall capacity to the extent theyhave OFO exposure. Contact Northwest’s hotline for information (801)584-7301. To fulfill OFO obligations with an action other than recall,contact Jan Caldwell at (801) 584-7155 or Jane Harrison at (801)584-7225. (See Northwest’s bulletin for details on the potentialOFO)

The cash market finally shook off the price weakness that haddominated it since late last week as most points ranged from flatto up about a nickel Tuesday, with some in the Rockies/San JuanBasin achieving dime-plus gains. However, with traders still unableto perceive see any significant weather load on the horizon and thescreen falling more than a quarter, the cash firmness was expectedto be short-lived.

Dominion Resources expects gas price strength to continuethrough next year, but it is making a conservative forecast forrealized prices of about $3.20/Mcf, CEO Thos. E. Capps saidyesterday during a conference call on the company’s third quarterearnings. The company’s production remains about 50% hedged throughthe second quarter of next year.

Natural gas and oil well completions rose 39% to 6,936 duringthe third quarter compared to 5,000 well completions in the sameperiod a year ago, according to the American Petroleum Institute’s(API) Quarterly Well Completion Report.

Nicor Gas has filed a plan with the Illinois Commerce Commissionthat would allow customers to continue to participate in thecompany’s Customer Select program until the ICC completes itsinvestigation of the program.

Northwest notified shippers of a Declared Stage I OverrunEntitlement Period (Overrun Entitlement) that began Thursday andwill continue through the Oct. 2 gas day or until further notice.The entitlement applies to delivery points north of Kemmerer (WY)Station and subjects a Receiving Party to penalties for overtakesmore than 3% greater than its confirmed nominations. Northwestnoted it has experienced continuous drafting throughout September,resulting in low Jackson Prairie storage levels and low systemlinepack. Additionally, the large unit at Soda Springs Stationimmediately north of Kemmerer went off-line Wednesday due tomechanical problems, reducing station capacity from 470,000 Dth/dto about 430,000 Dth/d. Repairs are expected to take three to fivedays. To avoid cutting primary gas at Soda Springs, Northwest mustrely on Jackson Prairie withdrawals, necessitating the entitlement.