Dropped

NiSource dropped its hostile $74/share tender offer ($6.1billion) for all of the outstanding common stock of Columbia EnergyGroup (CG) yesterday and said it will return the 47,576,897 CGshares, representing 58.6% of the Columbia shares outstanding, toshareholders. This does not mean it’s giving up, however. On thecontrary, NiSource said it intends to continue the negotiation andbidding process set up by Columbia’s board.

Texas Eastern (Tetco) said Friday its delivery pressures haddropped below contractual levels due to cold weather and highmarket-area takes. Thus it issued an OFO, effective at 1 p.m. CTthat afternoon, requiring that all deliveries in its M-3 zone underall rate schedules be made at a uniform hourly rate. All M-3Operational Balancing Agreements were suspended for purposes ofhourly allocations only during the OFO period, the pipeline said.Penalties for non-compliance with the OFO were $25/dth. However,late Friday afternoon Tetco said the OFO was being suspended at 9a.m. Saturday because of forecasts of a “slight” warming trend.

Average on-site energy consumption per household dropped by 27%between 1978 and 1997 while the number of U.S. households increasedby 33%, resulting in no change in total on-site residential energyconsumption over that 20-year period, according to a report fromthe Energy Information Administration (EIA). If the amount ofprimary energy required to generate and transmit the electricityconsumed by households is considered, then the decline inper-household energy consumption is only 16% because electricity’sshare of total household energy consumption increased between 1978and 1997.

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) has dropped the civilfraud charges against a former Canadian Embassy aide pending theoutcome of negotiations between her and her attorney and theproducer group.

If the first quarter is any indication, Exxon and Mobil needeach other’s help. Exxon’s earnings dropped to $1.02 billion from$1.82 billion in 1Q99 while Mobil experienced a drop from $715million to $471 million. For the merging companies, the fall-offrepresents more than a 33% reduction in net income for each companyfrom the same period last year.

Exxon was hit and hit hard during the first quarter, posting a40% drop in profits, the company announced yesterday. Earningsdropped to $1.02 billion from $1.82 billion in 1Q98. Revenue fellto $26.884 billion from $29.964 billion in 1Q98. The results fromthe first three months of 1999 also included a $120 million chargefor restructuring Japanese operations.

SaskEnergy and Enbridge Consumers Gas last week dropped out ofthe competition for a distribution franchise in Nova Scotia once itbecame clear the provincial government would allow industrialcustomers to apply for direct connections to the Maritimes andNortheast Pipeline. Their departure leaves only Sempra Atlantic Gasand Maritimes NRG competing for province-wide distributionfranchise rights and seven small municipal agencies competing forsite-specific franchises.

SaskEnergy and Enbridge Consumers Gas last week dropped out ofthe competition for a distribution franchise in Nova Scotia once itbecame clear the provincial government would allow industrialcustomers to apply for direct connections to the Maritimes andNortheast Pipeline. Their departure leaves only Sempra Atlantic Gasand Maritimes NRG competing for province-wide distributionfranchise rights and seven small municipal agencies competing forsite-specific franchises.

TransCanada PipeLines and Nicor Inc. have dropped their plans toproceed with what was to have been a revised Voyageur pipeline dueto a lack of commitments from Midwest shippers that would have beenserved by the project.