Eating

Gas-fired power generators that enjoyed eating coal’s cake last year will have the opportunity again next year as “there will be too much gas supply in 2011 not to boost displacement back to about 2009 levels, assuming normal weather next year,” Barclays Capital analysts said in a note Tuesday.

There is no relief in sight from gas demand growth in the Alberta oil sands that is eating into supplies available for export to the United States, according to a Canadian industrial gas consumer forecast.

After engaging in a Northeast LDC eating binge last year, EnergyEast Corp. started the digestion phase of its strategy yesterday byannouncing the completion of its Connecticut Energy purchase. Thetransaction gives Energy East control over Southern Connecticut GasCo., an LDC serving 160,000 customers. The original purchase offerwas made last April for $617 million. Energy East (formerly knownas NYSEG) still has a full plate, however, as its transactions withCTG Resources, CMP Energy and Berkshire Energy are still beingprocessed. Following the completion of all the acquisitions, EnergyEast will have more than 1.3 million electric customers and morethan 542,000 gas customers, excluding any added through CMP NaturalGas, the Maine gas distribution partnership of Energy East and CMP.With CTG and Connecticut Energy, Energy East becomes the largestgas distributor in the state with about 300,000 customers.

With its seemingly bottomless stomach rumbling again, EnergyEast bought Berkshire Energy Resources for $96 million last week inan attempt to complement its growth strategy and gain new gascustomers in western Massachusetts. The companies said they expectto complete the transaction within 12 months. As part of the deal,Energy East also assumed $40 million of Berkshire’s preferred stockand long-term debt.

With its seemingly bottomless stomach rumbling again, EnergyEast bought Berkshire Energy Resources for $96 million yesterday asa complement to its growth strategy and to gain new gas customersin western Massachusetts. The companies said they expect tocomplete the transaction within 12 months. As part of the deal,Energy East also assumed $40 million of Berkshire’s preferred stockand long-term debt.

Producers are eating a bigger slice of the revenue pie,pipelines claim. Pipelines, however, are piling up a much greaterreturn for a much smaller investment, producers retort. And that’sjust the beginning of the arguments spawned by FERC’s probing thepossibility of lighter-handed regulation of pipelines, includingnegotiated terms and conditions.