Expects

Marathon Oil Co., which completed its acquisition of gasproducer Pennaco Energy Inc. earlier this month, expects toincrease its oil and gas production another 3% this year throughexploration and possible acquisitions, said CEO Clarence Cazalot.However, Cazalot was coy about whether parent company USX-MarathonGroup would spin off or sell its growing energy unit this year.

Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. said yesterday that it expectselectricity supplies in its upstate New York service area thissummer to be adequate to meet demand. Niagara Mohawk provideselectricity to more than 1.5 million customers in the state anddelivers natural gas to more than 540,000.

After last year’s phenomenal earnings growth rate of 26%,UtiliCorp United’s CEO thinks the energy services provider hasnever been stronger, and said last week that the company’s diverseportfolio should guarantee earnings of at least 15% for the nextseveral years. Rick C. Green Jr. stressed, though, that diversitydid not necessarily mean adding more assets, just doing well withthe ones the company already holds.

Northern Border Partners L.P. is moving quickly to scoop upMidwestern Gas Transmission from El Paso Corp. because it believesthe pipeline is destined to become strategically more important asan outlet for western Canadian gas and eventually Alaskan gas, aswell as a key supplier for generation plants in the Midwest.

After last year’s phenomenal earnings growth rate of 26%,UtiliCorp United’s CEO thinks the energy services provider hasnever been stronger, and said yesterday that the company’s diverseportfolio should guarantee earnings of at least 15% for the nextseveral years. Rick C. Green Jr. also stressed, though, thatdiversity did not necessarily mean adding more assets, just doingwell with the ones the company already has.

Royal Dutch/Shell said yesterday it expects to have plans inplace by this July to export liquefied natural gas to the UnitedStates and southern Europe from Egypt. Egypt has enough gasreserves to commit 10 Tcf to 15 Tcf to export, said Shell.

Kern River expects its receipts to be “slightly impacted” asAmoco’s Painter Plant near Evanston, WY performs maintenance thatwas to begin Sunday and continue through next Sunday.

Based on current withdrawal rates, working gas inventory andanticipated load forecast, Questar said Thursday it expects to go intocompressed withdrawal mode at the Clay Basin storage facility withinthe next three to seven days. This prompted concern by Northwest thatsuch an action will cause it “to begin to accumulate unmanageablelevels of condensate liquids at its Green River [WY] compressorstation similar to last year, when Questar had to reduce its confirmedquantities to Northwest” (see Daily GPI,Feb. 14, 2000; Feb. 23, 2000). Bothpipes said they are working together to manage liquids at GreenRiver. Questar noted that to mitigate future impact, it plans to builda dewpoint plant at Clay Basin. Permitting is under way andcompletion is expected in late summer, Questar said. A pipelinerepresentative said “compressed withdrawal” is the difference betweenfree flow, which is the normal operational mode for Clay Basin untilabout mid-January each year, and using compressors to suck gas out ofthe ground. Currently Clay Basin is about 32% full for thenon-Questar-contracted 54 million dekatherms held by seven or eightmajor customers including Northwest, he said. Using compression inwithdrawals heats the gas so it takes longer to cool down and for theliquids to condense out of it; thus the liquids tend to form afterit’s gotten out into the pipeline, he said.

Dominion Resources expects gas price strength to continuethrough next year, but it is making a conservative forecast forrealized prices of about $3.20/Mcf, CEO Thos. E. Capps saidyesterday during a conference call on the company’s third quarterearnings. The company’s production remains about 50% hedged throughthe second quarter of next year.