Eastern

Forcenergy Inc. of Miami said its bankruptcy reorganization planwas approved Oct. 22 by the United States Bankruptcy Court for theEastern District of Louisiana. A confirmation hearing is scheduledfor Dec. 13. On Nov. 16 the bankruptcy court extended the timeperiod for which only the company has the exclusive right to file aplan of reorganization. No other plan has been submitted or can besubmitted during the company’s exclusivity period.

Another round of discussions — and potentially hearings oreven court cases — is on the horizon for the new branch of thenatural gas industry in Atlantic Canada, after regional natives wona legal ruling that they need to be consulted more.

For the most part yesterday cash prices carved out increases asTropical Storm Harvey lent some support to the East and maintenanceissues helped strengthen prices along the West Coast and Rockies.Yet mild weather nationwide, the expected American Gas Associationstorage report of higher-than-normal injections and a weak futuresscreen were traders’ main topics of conversation yesterday. And thegeneral consensus is that cash price increases may be hard to comeby for the next few days.

Infinity Inc., the largest oilfield services company in easternKansas and northeastern Oklahoma, and an emerging independent oiland gas producer, acquired a 100% working interest in an additional4,775 acres in Wyoming’s Green River Basin. The new acreage isadjacent to the recently announced property acquired by Infinityand gives the company an interest in a total of 20,595 gross acres.

Columbia Natural Resources Canada (CNRC) has joined with twosmall Canadian producers to prove that all the natural gas actionin eastern Canada is not offshore.

The joint request of Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) andAlgonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) for FERC to hold a conference toreview alternatives to the proposed Millennium Pipeline and otherprojects is an attempt to block new pipeline competition in theNortheast and should be rejected outright, Millennium said.

Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) has asked FERC to schedule aconference to take a “hard look” at “viable alternatives” – notablythose using turned-back capacity – to the controversialIndependence-MarketLink pipeline projects and perhaps the proposedMillennium Pipeline.

CMS Panhandle Eastern plans its Waverly Piping Inspection tobegin Friday and last seven days, reducing capacity by 60 MMcf/d.The project reduces capacity on Panhandle’s 100 line between Havenand Glenarm but will affect only physical receipts between Havenand Glenarm into the 100 lines.

Warm temperatures in major eastern cities and apprehension aboutthe possibility of “another bullish storage report” gave bulls thereason to buoy the market higher yesterday, and they did notsquander the opportunity. Buying, led mainly by commercial traders,sent the July contract up to a retest of its previous open outcrysession high of $2.41 before settling at $2.407. Estimated volumewas 73,884.