Could

The on-again, off-again Southern Crossing project of BC Gascould go forward assuming the company agrees to terms specified inan approval from the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC).

The on-again, off-again Southern Crossing project of BC Gascould go forward assuming the company agrees to terms specified inan approval from the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC).

Major price spikes could recur in the Midwest power market thissummer, according to a key consulting group. “I would say it’s like50-50 whether we’re going to have very gross spikes there,” saidJudah Rose, vice president of wholesale power for ICF KaiserInternational Inc. “It looks like we may luck out, but it’s stillvery, very dicey” in the Midwest region. A major factor is “no oneknows who’s in charge of reliability in the Midwest,” he toldGasMart/Power ’99 in Dallas. Rose believes the federal governmentneeds to intervene to settle the issue once and for all. “There isnothing more federal than the intersected power grid. The federalgovernment needs.to set up who’s in charge of reliability, figureout what the rules are.”

Tougher environmental regulations could result in the shutdownof about 30% of the existing U.S. coal-fired generation capacityover the next decade, opening the potential for the gas industry tocapture an additional 10 Bcf/d of natural gas demand , says a keyexecutive with WEFA Inc.

Avista Corp. of Spokane, WA, its first-quarter earnings pershare could fall as much as 15 cents per share below securitiesanalysts’ current consensus first quarter estimate of 49 cents pershare. However, CEO T.M. Matthews said the company is stillcomfortable with analyst expectations of earnings for the year ofbetween $1.55-$1.65 per share

An April 2 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commissionsuggests the rumored sale of Enron’s controlling interest in EnronOil & Gas (EOG) could be in the offing. In the filing, Enronsaid it is pondering EOG’s potential sale among other possibilitiesfor the exploration and production arm of the energy giant.

After etching what some feel could be the range for theremainder of the April contract’s life with Monday’s $1.69 low andTuesday’s $1.825 high, the market stayed pat Wednesday-tradinginside a tight 3-cent range. And while no fresh fundamental forceswere seen to usher the market in either direction, sourcesindentified a host of limiting technical factors in yesterday’sprice action. The April contract finished up 0.5 cents to $1.795.

Not forecasts calling for cooling temperatures, nor record lowsset in the nearby heating oil contract could entice the natural gasfutures market to break out of its month long trading rangeTuesday, as many traders decided instead to play it safe and waitfor a more clearly defined price signal. The March contract drifted1.2 cents lower to settle at $1.795 after being limited to a narrow5-cent trading range.

Pennsylvania Rep. Frank Tulli, one of the sponsors of a statenatural gas deregulation bill that stalled last year, said thelegislation once again is on the fast track now that Gov. Tom Ridgehas proposed eliminating the 5% gross receipts tax levied on thestate’s residential gas users.