Couple

Although it’ll be poorer by a couple of million dollars, KinderMorgan Inc. says it’s glad to have finally reached a settlementwith FERC resolving many of the marketing-affiliate issues thathave dogged its pipeline companies for years.

Although producers are seeing a significant rebound from themarket doldrums over the past couple years, Fitch IBCA sees troubleahead in the form of increasing finding and development costs andsignificant opposition to pipeline construction.

Sempra Energy is banking on a belief in the traditionalregulated pipes and wires business, but with a couple new twists.The holding company for San Diego Gas & Electric and SouthernCalifornia Gas is literally breaking new ground in North America,while buying into established utilities as far south as theSouthern Cone of South America.

Sempra Energy is banking on a belief in the traditionalregulated pipes and wires business but with a couple of new twists.The holding company for San Diego Gas &amp Electric and SouthernCalifornia Gas is literally breaking new ground in North America,while buying into established utilities as far south as theSouthern Cone of South America.

The last couple of weeks have seen a number of mishaps involvingnatural gas lines, one of them resulting in fatalities.

Except for a couple of Western regions, cash prices Mondayfailed to realize the strong post-holiday recovery from Thursday’splunging numbers that sources had expected. Weakness in the futuresscreen acted as an obvious drag on Eastern prices, which weremostly flat to less than a nickel higher. And one trader felt thelarger upticks in the Rockies and San Juan Basin and at theCalifornia border were more a case of “them being so weak justprior to the holiday” than any great strength in Western markets.

Giving pipelines the presumption in favor of rolled-in rates mayhave been a good idea a couple of years ago, but CommissionerWilliam Massey says he’s now beginning to have second thoughtsabout that decision.