Enough

To produce enough natural gas to fuel the nation’s growing demands, the North American gas industry, which has an adequate resource base, must be permitted access to lands, as well as capital, Jerry Jordan, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) told a Washington audience Thursday.

As part of plan to ensure Wisconsin has enough generation in place to avoid a California-like power crisis in the years ahead, Alliant Energy, parent of Wisconsin Power and Light (WPL), unveiled a proposal to develop up to 800 MW of new electric power generation in Wisconsin over the next 10 years, including 500 MW of coal-fired, 100 MW of gas-fired generation by 2006, and an additional 200 MW of natural gas-fired generation by 2011. Alliant offered the proposal in comments submitted to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) on a compromise proposal by Wisconsin Electric (WE) and Customers First.

As part of plan to ensure Wisconsin has enough generation inplace to avoid a California-like power crisis in the years ahead,Alliant Energy, parent of Wisconsin Power and Light (WPL), unveileda proposal to develop up to 800 MW of new electric power generationin Wisconsin over the next 10 years, including 500 MW ofcoal-fired, 100 MW of gas-fired generation by 2006, and anadditional 200 MW of natural gas-fired generation by 2011. Alliantoffered the proposal in comments submitted to the Public ServiceCommission of Wisconsin (PSCW) on a compromise proposal byWisconsin Electric (WE) and Customers First.

Working to set aside enough reserves to cover potential lossesfrom power trading in California, Houston-based Reliant Energy Inc.reported fourth quarter results Friday that fell short of WallStreet expectations. The utility posted a loss of $298.6 million,or $1.04 a diluted share. In fourth quarter 1999, it also lost,posting earnings of $72.7 million or 26 cents a share.

One expansion just wasn’t enough for Mitchell Energy &Development Co., which yesterday announced plans for a secondadd-on to its Bridgeport natural gas processing plant in NorthTexas. The expansion, planned for completion by July 2001, isexpected to help the company double its capacity within a year,matching the rapidly growing gas production from Mitchell’s NewarkEast Barnett Shale field.

The natural gas business of the future is tied to three things:assets, knowledge and its customers, and the companies that knowhow to merge the three successfully will rise above the crowd,Linda Cook, CEO of Shell Gas and Power, told delegates last week atthe GasTech 2000 conference in Houston.

The natural gas business of the future is tied to three things:assets, knowledge and its customers, and the companies that knowhow to merge the three successfully will rise above the crowd,Linda Cook, CEO of Shell Gas and Power, told delegates yesterday atthe GasTech 2000 conference in Houston.

The demise of Debby, softer futures and just not enough summerheat to really matter kept the cash market on a slide Thursday asalmost all points plunged by about 20 cents or more. Predictably,however, the smallest declines were registered by California as ananticipated reopening of one line at Pecos River Station on ElPaso’s southern branch failed to materialize due to a regulatoryfiat.

Further fueling concerns that there may not be enough domesticgas supply to meet a 30 Tcf demand market down the road, a newstudy warns the industry likely will face a shortage of productionpersonnel to explore and drill for natural gas if the current trendtowards consolidation, divestiture and downsizing continues.