Facilities

Because of production receipts upstream of its Logansport (LA)facilities continuing to exceed capacity, Sonat issued a Type 5 OFOthat took effect Saturday. Volumes delivered into the system thatexceed 104% of scheduled quantities will be penalized $15/Dth. TheOFO affects 25 Logansport Field points and 24 Joaquin Field points.

Strengthened by its merger with The Coastal Corp. earlier thismonth that made it the fourth largest U.S. energy company, theformer El Paso Energy Corp. unveiled an impressive show of strengthlast week as it began a two-day analysts’ conference in Houston,showcasing a new energy trading floor, new corporate identify anddetails to grow earnings at least 25% in the coming year.

To capitalize on the growing liquefied natural gas market,Houston-based El Paso Energy Corp. said it would spend $1.5 billionover the next five years to build six LNG terminals for NorthAmerican markets. The six proposed projects include three in theUnited States, two in Mexico and one in the Bahamas, with fiveserving the U.S. marketplace.

CMS Energy’s marketing subsidiary signed a long-term agreementto provide 10 Bcf of gas over 10 years to various facilities ownedby the County Commissioner’s Association of Ohio (CCAO). Theagreement includes a prepayment of an undisclosed sum to CMS-MSTfunded by bonds issued by Hamilton County, OH, and underwritten bySeasongood & Mayer LLC of Cincinnati. “This agreementillustrates a marketing arrangement that is tailored to ourcustomer’s needs,” said Tamela W. Pallas, president of CMS-MST.”The agreement gives the County Commissioner’s Association of Ohioa secure supply of natural gas for 10 years at market-basedpricing. The association, in turn, will provide the natural gas toover 30 Ohio county governments, reducing natural gas costs andsaving taxpayer money.”

California’s power plant siting agency gave unanimous approvalWednesday to Duke Energy’s plans to build new facilities at itsexisting Moss Landing generating plant along the central Californiacoast, adding 1,200-MW capacity while eliminating eight 225-footsmoke stakes and 10 oil storage tanks for the existing plant sitedeveloped in the early 1950s. After a 22-month approval process,Duke officials said earlier in the week they will beginconstruction Monday, assuming they receive a final local waterpermit as expected on Friday.

Williams has been selected in a “landmark transaction” toinstall the infrastructure, including gathering lines and onshoreprocessing, to service new deep water development in the Nansen andBoombang Fields in the East Breaks area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Northern Border Partners, LP, announced it has completed itspreviously announced acquisition of gas gathering facilities in thePowder River and Wind River Basins in Wyoming for $200 million fromEnron North America Corp. The purchase includes ownership positionsin Bighorn Gas Gathering and Fort Union Gas Gathering in the PowderRiver Basin and Lost Creek Gathering in the Wind River Basin. Inconjunction with the acquisition, NBP and ENA have agreed toprovide complementary services in the Basins. NBP will own andoperate physical assets and will provide gathering andtransportation services. ENA will continue to provide gas purchaseand sales, finance, risk management and producer outsourcingservices. The partnership also declared an increase in cashdistribution yesterday to $0.70 from $0.65 per unit. The indicatedannual rate is now $2.80 per unit. The increase becomes effectivewith the third quarter distribution payable on Nov. 14. It is thepartnership’s fourth increase in the last three years. NorthernBorder Partners, LP owns a 70% general partner interest in NorthernBorder Pipeline Co., which owns a 1,214-mile interstate pipelinesystem that transports approximately 23 percent of all Canadiannatural gas imports into the United States.

Independent oil and gas operator Central Resources entered intotwo definitive sale agreements to sell specific oil and gasproperties and related facilities located in West Texas, themid-continent and Rockies areas, the four corners area and alongthe Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. Total proceedsfrom the sale are estimated at $70 million. Denver-based CentralResources CEO Paul Zecchi said the company will use the cashproceeds on “future acquisition and development opportunities”domestically as well as internationally. The sale transactions wereeffective on June 1, and are expected to be completed inmid-to-late September.

The Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland (PJM) IndependentSystem Operator (ISO) has received approval for transmissionfacilities to interconnect over 40 new power generating sources tothe grid. In a meeting Aug. 1, the board of managers of PJMInterconnection approved the remaining elements of what is to bethe first coordinated regional transmission expansion under the PJMISO structure.