Copy

A major pipeline group last week said there was “much to like”in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that would, among otherthings, expand the blanket construction and abandonment certificateauthority for pipelines under FERC’s Part 157 regulations, but italso had “several major concerns.”

FERC yesterday played Santa Claus to the natural gas industry bygranting its wish for a second extension of the deadline forcomments on the mega-notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR)addressing short-term capacity issues and notice of inquiry (NOI)focusing on long-term transportation issues (RM98-10, RM98-12]. Butit did not close the door for those few who might want to filecomments under the current schedule.

A former “wild card” in the outlook for Canada’s biggest energymarket is starting to look like an ace for natural gas that willpay off for American as well as Canadian suppliers, according tonew evidence before the National Energy Board. The NEB has beentold a healthy growth market for gas is developing fast as a resultof Ontario Hydro’s shutdowns of nuclear power generators andelectricity deregulation. According to the evidence, aC$1.7-billion (US$1.2-billion) chain of gas-fired power projects isrising from the ashes of the Crown Corp.’s crumbling monopoly andtroubled nuclear facilities.

ComEd announced it plans to sell the Collins generating stationand the company’s peaking units in conjunction with the sale of itscoal-fired generation business. The company said it received anumber of attractive proposals for all the power plants during thefirst phase of its coal plant auction. A “short list'” of qualifiedbidders on all the plants is being compiled for the next phase.

The energy industry is on the cusp of a series of mega-mergersfollowing last week’s announcement of an historic combination ofExxon and Mobil, according to many observers. Driving theconsolidation, they say, is extremely low commodity prices. Thatreasoning was reinforced last week when gas prices plummeted tohistoric lows for December (see related story this issue).

The gas market showed last week it was fed up with low crude oilprices getting all the attention. In a market swing that wasnothing short of unbelievable, gas prices collapsed to nearhistoric lows for a week in December. Spot prices at the Henry Hubplummeted to $1.01/MMBtu on Friday and averaged $1.32 for the week,down 64 cents from the week prior. Spot prices at a number of otherlocations in Louisiana and Texas fell below $1 on Friday.

A return to normal temperatures in the first quarter andthroughout next year is likely to lead to a 2.4% increase in gasdemand in 1999, the Independent Petroleum Association of America(IPAA) said in its November Short-Run Forecast. IPAA sees demandreaching 22.3 Tcf, a peak that surpasses the previous high of 22.1set in 1972 and a significant turnaround from the 1.1% decrease to21.7 Tcf of gas demand expected this year.

Interstate pipelines and industrial gas customers said theywould be opposed to any FERC proposal requiring pipes to notifyaffected landowners of proposed projects prior to filing theirapplications at the Commission, saying this would only furthersnarl the certification process. In late September, FERC indicatedin a notice of technical conference that it was leaning toward sucha proposal in order to involve landowners earlier on in thecertification process.

Low oil prices prompted Texaco to cut about 1,000 out of 8,000upstream employee and contractor jobs worldwide as part of areorganization designed to increase emphasis on long-termproduction and reserve growth and streamline costs and improvecompetitiveness. Cost savings are projected to be $200 million peryear, and the reorganization is expected to be completed by the endof the first quarter of next year.