As soaring December bills for natural gas use hit the home frontin Illinois last week, city and state officials opened a broadinvestigation into the causes of skyrocketing prices and madeattempts to increase assistance to low-income households.
December
Articles from December
ICC Rules 5-0, Investigations Commence on LDCs
With December natural gas usage bills hitting extraordinarilyhard in Illinois this year, city and state legislators have set outin search of clues as to why gas prices are through the roof.Spurred by the urgings of Gov. George H. Ryan and variouslegislators, the Illinois Commerce Commission voted 5-0 to open aninvestigation into this winter’s natural gas price spikes. The ICCalso directed its staff to put together its final report within 60to 120 days (see Daily GPI, Jan. 10).
Natural Gas Issues Heating Up in Illinois
As the December bills for natural gas use hit the home front,city and state officials in Illinois, one of the hardest hit lastmonth, weatherwise, reacted with measures to increase low incomeassistance and investigate the cause of the high prices.
January Aftermarket Begins Mostly Above Indexes
End-of-December swing prices rebounded Friday from the week’searlier slide, rising by a dollar or more in many cases but alsofeaturing a few scattered declines. The January aftermarket beganabove first-of-month indexes by varying degrees except atCalifornia/Pacific Northwest points.
TCPL Asset Sales at $3 Billion; Not Done Yet
After putting its 50% interest of the Express System crude oil pipeline on the market last December as part of CEO Doug Baldwin’s $3 billion divestiture program, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. (TCPL) finally found a buyer in Alberta Energy Company Ltd. (AEC) for a net total of $60 million. Included in the sale is TransCanada’s 50% interest in Marquest marketing entities which act as shippers on the system.
Transportation Notes
Iroquois extended through Friday an open season for up to 10,000Dth/d of winter-only (December through March) FT from theWaddington receipt point to the Brookfield delivery point. Theservice would commence Dec. 1, 2000 and end April 1, 2003. Iroquoisnoted that Sithe New Boston has right of first refusal for 10,000Dth/d. Call Robin Almond at (203) 925-7274 for information.
Title Change for El Paso Intrastate — Alabama
Completing a deal announced last December, El Paso Energy Partners L.P. announced it has assumed control of El Paso Intrastate — Alabama Inc. (EPIA) for $26.4 million from its parent company, El Paso Energy Corp (see Daily GPI, Dec. 27).
Industry Briefs
Indiana Energy, Inc. said yesterday that a special meeting ofcommon shareholders would be held on December 17 at its corporateheadquarters in Indianapolis, IN, to consider the previously announcedmerger with SIGCORP Inc. The merger would create a new $1.9 billionholding company called Vectren (see Daily GPI, June 15). Through its utility subsidiaries,Vectren will offer gas and electricity to more than 650,000 customersin adjoining service areas that cover nearly two-thirds ofIndiana. Vectren’s non-regulated subsidiaries will offerenergy-related products and services, including: energy marketing;performance contracting and coal mining; fiber-optic basedtelecommunications services; locating, trenching and meter readingservices; and materials management to customers throughout thesurrounding region. Under the merger agreement, Indiana Energyshareholders will receive one share of Vectren’s common stock for eachshare of Indiana Energy stock. SIGCORP shareholders will receive 1.333shares of Vectren’s common stock for each share of SIGCORP stock.
The Bulls Never Had a Chance
The mid-$2.60s have been a pivotal level for natural gas futuresover the past year. Last November, the December contract managed totrade up to $2.64 — the high price during the “winter thatwasn’t” — before crashing more than a dollar to February lows.Then in July, many market watchers pointed to the August’s abilityto clear the $2.60 level as a harbinger of things to come. OnWednesday once again a line was drawn in the sand at the $2.65level. If the market stays above that level, we can retest thehighs, bull traders insisted. But a settlement below that levelcould spawn a round of selling, countered market bears.
Futures Quiet Ahead of Storage Data
For the first half of December, natural gas futures have been awhirlwind of volatility, where chart gaps and double-digit pricemoves have been almost the norm. So it came as a welcome change forsome when the prompt January contract exhibited a more sedatedemeanor Tuesday, trading within a narrow band and settlingunchanged for the day. Estimated volume was a relatively quiet50,593.