Even

Reducing paperwork and maybe even saving money in the federalgovernment? How can this not be a good thing?

The numbers, it seems, don’t tell the entire story. Even thoughoil and gas industry upstream revenues, profits and cash flow areshowing record profits for 1999 compared with the previous year’scollapse, exploration and development spending dropped and provedreserves spending rose significantly, according to ArthurAndersen’s 21st annual Global E&P Trends survey.

The numbers, it seems, don’t tell the entire story. Even thoughoil and gas industry upstream revenues, profits and cash flow areshowing record profits for 1999 compared with the previous year’scollapse, exploration and development spending dropped and provedreserves spending rose significantly, according to ArthurAndersen’s 21st annual Global E&P Trends survey.

After spending more than C$60 million (US$41 million) and threeyears of preliminary work, the sponsors of the upstream portion ofthe Millennium Pipeline Project have decided to put the regulatoryreview process in Canada on indefinite hold.

A contract is still a contract, even when the federal governmentis the one that breaks it, said the U.S. Supreme Court last week,which ruled that two energy giants are entitled to recover $158million in an offshore oil and gas deal that never happened. Thehigh court ruled 8-1 in a breach of contract lawsuit brought byMobil Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. that followed their expensiveattempt to explore and develop leases off of North Carolina’s OuterBanks.

A contract is still a contract, even when the federal governmentis the one that breaks it, said the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday,which ruled that two energy giants are entitled to recover $158million in an offshore oil and gas deal that never happened. Thehigh court ruled 8-1 in a breach of contract lawsuit brought byMobil Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. that followed their expensiveattempt to explore and develop leases off of North Carolina’s OuterBanks.

Wednesday’s cash market gains got even bigger Thursday asfutures continued to lend support. Virtually all gains were about aquarter or more, with the larger ones of more than 30 centsclustered mainly in the West. Malin led the pack by advancingslightly more than 40 cents.

By agreeing last week to sell the stock of its retail marketingarm to Enron Energy Services Operations Inc. for $85 million,PG&E National Energy Group not only trimmed non-profitableassets from its portfolio, but perpetuated an industry-wide trendof major companies exiting the retail arena.

U.S. dependence on Canadian gas has quadrupled since the 1970sand is expected to grow even further over the next decade, butthere’s no danger the country will be to the domestic gas marketwhat the Middle East has come to mean to the U.S. crude oil market,a Canadian pipeline executive said.