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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.

Reliant Energy, formerly Houston Industries, expanded itsMidwest retail gas marketing business with the acquisition ofcertain assets of National Energy Management LLC and Koch MidstreamServices Co.’s Chicago operation. Together, these retail marketingbusinesses serve more than 2,200 accounts in the Chicago andsouthern Wisconsin areas and have annual revenues exceeding $65million.

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).

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. completed its previouslyannounced work force reduction and set its capital budget. As aresult of the company-wide downsizing and restructuring effort, 235positions have been eliminated, a 21% reduction in totalemployment. With these changes, the company expects annual salaryand benefits costs savings of about $17 million.

Having a U.S. congressman line up against a proposed expansionisn’t the worst thing that could happen to a natural gas pipeline,but it ranks right up there with the dreaded FERC investigation orthe unexpected financial audit. That’s the fate that has befallenTranscontinental Gas Pipe Line’s MarketLink project.

Sources were searching for new ways of expressing “flat” as1999’s relative lack of volatility in day trading continued Monday.A lot of zeroes were showing up in the average-change column of theprice table even as lack of fundamentals again failed to depresscash numbers. A Southwest trader reporting “not much demand andplenty of supply available” was surprised that prices weren’t goingdown.

Enterprise Products Partners LP of Houston subsidiary EnterpriseProducts Operating LP and five other energy companies have agreedon the ownership and operating terms of Tri-States NGL PipelineLLC.

Allowing interstate gas pipelines to sell capacity atmarket-based rates, without first requiring a showing of acompetitive market or mitigation measures, could set the stage formore allegedly “anticompetitive” contract arrangements betweenpipes and marketers – similar to the one between Dynegy Marketingand Trade and El Paso Natural Gas, warned California regulators.