Extending

The Desert Crossing Gas Storage and Transportation System announced an open season beginning Thursday and extending through Feb. 8 for its 10 Bcf, high-deliverability natural gas storage complex and pipeline running through parts of Arizona and Nevada just east of Topock, AZ. The 800 MMcf/d pipeline will span roughly 300 miles from outside of Las Vegas to southwestern Arizona, connecting the storage complex with Kern River, Transwestern, and El Paso Natural Gas.

Columbia Gas Transmission said it is extending an open season for its proposed Midwest Project to further assess market interest in new transportation service. The open season was supposed to close Dec. 14 but has been extended to Jan. 31.

Dynegy Chairman Chuck Watson said his company is “encouraged” by Enron’s success in extending a deadline on a $690 million obligation until mid-December and is “working to accelerate the regulatory approvals required to complete the merger with Enron Corp.” in light of the continuing free fall of Enron’s stock Wednesday. The stock fell more than $2 early in the day to $4.75 but moved back above $5 following Enron’s announcement that it was able to find some breathing room.

After extending as high as $3.14 in early morning over-the-counter Access trade, natural gas futures tumbled lower Thursday as fresh longs headed for the exits ahead of what is shaping up to be a volatile options expiration today. The November contract opened at $3.05, but came under heavy selling pressure about mid-morning Thursday after it was evident the contract had no chance of rebounding to levels seen hours earlier in the computer-only Access trading session. November finished the day at $2.938, more than 20 cents off its Access high but down only 4.3 cents for the session.

After extending to fresh four-week highs for the second session in a row Wednesday morning, natural gas futures prices shuffled lower in the afternoon in reaction to the news that a whopping 63 Bcf was added to underground storage facilities last week. The November contract finished almost 30 cents off its $2.69 opening trade, closing 17.4 cents lower at $2.418.

Florida Gas Transmission made it a full work week of OFOs by extending its Overage Alert Day notice that started last Monday through at least Friday. In Friday’s notice, the tolerance for negative daily imbalances was loosened once again from 10% to 15%.

Extending Friday’s losses, natural gas futures continued lower yesterday, as traders were greeted back from the weekend to a trading landscape devoid of anything resembling bullish news. Prices wasted little time in reflecting the negative sentiment, gapping lower at the open for the second session in a row before finding support just above the $3.00 level. The August contract notched its lowest closing price since May of 2000, slipping 18.2 cents to $3.068.

BC Gas is holding an open season to test market interest in its proposed new Inland Pacific Connector Pipeline, a 153-mile pipeline extending from the Southern Crossing pipeline to the regional marketing hub in Huntingdon, BC (see Daily GPI, April 4).

If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opts to extend a California-type, market-based lid on real-time power prices throughout the western region, the plan could be operational a little more than a month after California’s market mitigation plan kicks in, FERC General Counsel Kevin Madden told NGI last week.