Energy

Equitable Resources completed the previously announcedacquisition of the Appalachian production assets of Statoil Energyfor $630 million. The deal makes Equitable by far the largestproducer in the Appalachian basin with 2.2 Tcf of proven reservesand 12,600 gas and oil wells. Equitable said the acquisition wouldbe immediately accretive to earnings. “The addition of these assetsand resources to Equitable’s Appalachian business represent ahigh-value, low-risk opportunity for improving the overall qualityand efficiency of our production assets,” said Murry S. Gerber,Equitable’s president and CEO. “The benefits of this acquisition gobeyond making Equitable the leading gas supplier in the Appalachianbasin. We now have a dual platform for growth and increasedprofitability by ‘high-grading’ our total Appalachian portfolio.”Statoil’s production assets are contiguous to Equitable’sAppalachian properties and consist of 1.2 Tcf of proven gasreserves and 6,500 natural gas wells in West Virginia, Kentucky,Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Seeking convergence in its certificate policy, the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission proposed phasing out its 15-year oldoptional expedited certificate, saying “expedited” is now amisnomer and all pipeline certificates should be required to passunder the “public convenience and necessity” bar.

Seeking convergence in its certificate policy, the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission has proposed phasing out its 15-yearold optional expedited certificate, saying “expedited” is now amisnomer and all pipeline certificates should be required to passunder the “public convenience and necessity” bar.

Courage Energy Inc., an oil and natural gas company withoperations in western Canada, announced yesterday a purchase of aninterest in producing wells and facilities in the Peace River Archarea of northern Alberta for $13.5 million. The seller wasundisclosed and Courage will now operate the property with 55%ownership. The acquisition will immediately add over 3 MMcf/d tothe company’s production. There are additional wells awaitingcompletion, and pipeline tie-in, which will add to these productionvolumes, Courage said. The purchase includes 28,000 acres (16,000acres net) of land and a comprehensive seismic database. Anindependent engineering report, prepared for the Vendor, hasassigned 14.1 Bcf of proved reserves and an additional 6.428 Bcf ofrisked probable reserves for a total 20.5 Bcf of establishedreserves. The scheduled date to close the acquisition is Feb. 28,with an effective date of Dec. 31.

Williams Energy’s Kern River Gas Transmission announced an openseason last week to determine if customers on the system arewilling to relinquish enough capacity to meet the demand ofcompanies wishing to serve the Salt Lake City market. The openseason will run through March 3 and results will be announcedsometime in late March, a Williams spokesperson said.

Following a run of more than two weeks, MRT lifted effectiveSaturday the OFO that was put in place Jan. 19.

As El Paso Energy sets about to become the biggest and best inpractically every sector of the natural gas and electric industry,its key gas pipeline subsidiary – El Paso Natural Gas – hasdistinguished itself on another front: it holds the record at FERCfor the most complaints filed against a single company.

ANR blamed FERC’s decision to withhold a certificate for ANR’s SupplyLinkexpansion until it can show market need, and the decisions of one shipperto drop out of the Phase II project and another to defer service for ayear for delaying part of the construction (See NGI Dec.20, 1999).

Tenaska Alabama Partners LP announced it has executed a fuelconversion services agreement with Williams’ energy marketing andtrading unit for the entire electrical production of the plannedTenaska Lindsay Hill generating station. Under the long-termservice agreement, the Tenaska facility will convert fuel owned andsupplied by Williams into electricity, which will be marketed byWilliams throughout the Southeast region’s wholesale power market.Both companies would not disclose the terms of the agreement or theprojected amount of gas the facility will consume.