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Cash prices finished the week on a positive note as continuedincremental heating demand and a strong futures market bolsteredprices Friday. Trading was very active from the outset, a Gulftrader told Daily GPI. “There were some undeniable factors pointingto higher cash prices. Overnight gains in Access trading set thetone, then the over the counter market verified the strength,” heexplained. So it came as no surprise when the first cash offerswere a nickel or more above Thursday’s averages. But the marketcould not sustain the price rally and after buyers had filled theirrequirements at around 9:45 CST, seller realized their lowestprices of the day in late morning dealings.

LG&E Energy Corp. utility subsidiaries Louisville Gas andElectric and Kentucky Utilities received orders from the KentuckyPublic Service Commission (PSC) implementing performance-basedratemaking (PBR) effective July 2.

Burlington Resources has joined forces with Enron Capital &ampTrade Resources Corp. in a gas gathering partnership that willserve the Wind River Basin in Wyoming, where processing andtransportation constraints have held back production in recentyears. The two companies have formed Lost Creek Gathering Co.L.L.C. to build a new 124-mile, 24-inch diameter wet gas gatheringheader from the Madden Field in central Wyoming to a processingplant located near Wamsutter, WY.

Dynegy is making a reality of its promise to increase its powerasset portfolio in the Southeast by announcing construction plansfor two separate 500 MW facilities in the past seven days. Lastweek, Dynegy announced a local commission approved plans toconstruct a plant in Heard County, GA. Yesterday, the company saidit gained approval from a local court to build the BluegrassGeneration facility in Oldham County, KY. With the Kentuckyfacility, Dynegy will own or have interest in five power plants inthe Southeast.

A group of Wisconsin distributors say FERC should resort to amandatory auction of short-term capacity only as a last measure -after it has implemented and weighed the effects of its otherproposed initiatives, such as increased pipeline reportingrequirements, and finds they failed to achieve a similarcompetitive end.

A group of Wisconsin distributors says FERC should order amandatory auction of short-term capacity only as a last resort -after other proposed initiatives, such as increased pipelinereporting requirements failed to achieve a competitive end.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has called on FERC to design anoffshore policy that encourages private-sector investment in theGulf of Mexico gas infrastructure and the development of advancedproduction technologies. Such a policy would be in keeping with theClinton administration’s 1993 domestic natural gas and oilinitiative, he wrote in a recent letter to Chairman James Hoecker.

Moving one step closer to bringing 1.325 Bcf/d of gas fromWestern Canada to Chicago, Alliance Pipeline announced the start ofconstruction with the clearing of 410 miles of forestedrights-of-way for mainlines and laterals in northwestern Albertaand northeastern British Columbia. The entire system is expected tobe completed and in service by October, 2000. Alliance said italready has commitments from 37 shippers for 15-year contractsworth a total of $8.2 billion.

Destin Pipeline Co. filed at FERC last week to have costlimitations on its “CNG Lateral” waived in light of delays thatpushed the project’s cost to $35.1 million, well above $19.6million allowed for in the Commission’s certification of theproject last year (Docket No. CP98-238).