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SCANA Corp. announced it is refocusing its marketing strategy onthe retail business in the Southeast and is shutting down itsHouston office and its wholesale gas marketing operation. Thecompany would not say how much natural gas its wholesale operationhandles on a daily basis.

CNG Transmission Corp. last week called on FERC to dismiss thepending application of potential competitor Independence Pipeline,claiming that the 400-mile project was based on out-dated andfaulty demand projections for the Northeast gas market and lackedbinding precedent agreements. In addition, it said Independence hasdrawn “substantial opposition” from affected landowners andenvironmental groups.

Enron Corp. reported a 16% increase in 1998 earnings per dilutedshare, led by wholesale energy marketing operations. Earnings roseto $2.01/share from $1.74 in 1997. Corresponding net incomeincreased 36% to $698 million from $515 million during the year.The comparisons are before non-recurring items and last year’s gainof $61 million, related to the sale of a 7% interest in EnronEnergy Services.

Kerr-McGee Corp., taking into account the unfinished merger withOryx Energy (See Daily GPI, Oct. 16), revealed Friday a $545million capital budget for 1999. The merged company plans 1999daily production volumes at 190,000 barrels of oil and 580 MMcf ofgas.

Attempting to consolidate its offshore pipeline assets under onecompany, El Paso Energy Corp.’s El Paso Field Services sold itsinterest in an offshore gathering system to Leviathan Gas PipelinePartners L.P. for $85.26 million in cash and stock exchanges. ElPaso will receive $63.945 million in Leviathan stock, improving itsholding interest in the company from 27.3% to 34%. The sale of theViosca Knoll Gathering Co. (VKGC) still needs to be approved byLeviathan’s board of directors. El Paso said the deal will beratified by March 31 and that no employees will be affected.

Providence (RI) Energy Corp. blamed a warm winter and a sharpdrop in oil prices for diminished earnings for the year ended Sept.30. Net income declined to $6.4 million, or $1.09 per share, from$7.8 million, or $1.35 per share, in fiscal 1997. However,operating revenue from the company’s non-regulated business grewmore than five-fold to $33 million.

Enron Capital & Trade Resources Corp. (ECT) chose IONATechnologies’ Orbix and OrbixTalk products for real-time energytrading. The new trading system, which enables Enron traders tocapture and process complex deals, currently supports natural gastrading and later will be extended to support electricity and otherenergy commodities. ECT’s trading system, called Sitara, alsoallows traders to perform real-time portfolio and positionmanagement. The new system has been deployed in Houston and will bedeployed worldwide.

Amway Corp. and Columbia Energy are taking their retail energyalliance to Ohio this month, three months after testing energymarketing strategies in Georgia. Georgia residents who have chosenColumbia Energy through Amway distributors can save as much as 18%per year on the cost of natural gas, according to Columbia.

Unocal Corp.’s Spirit Energy 76 unit recorded a 64% success ratein its core Gulf of Mexico shelf exploration program during 1998,including four new discoveries during December. For the full-year,Spirit Energy had 21 discoveries on the shelf. Preliminaryinformation indicates the company replaced about 100% of its 1998production with new reserves (excluding sales), increasedproduction from year-ago levels, and continued to developadditional attractive exploration prospects.