Federal

Within days of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accepting aconsent order, Duke Energy Corp. and Phillips Petroleum last weekclosed the transaction combining their natural gas gathering andprocessing businesses under one roof. The agency conditioned itsacceptance on Duke agreeing to sell off nearly 3,000 miles of gasgathering lines in the Midcontinent region.

Absent a showing of market support, the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission staff has threatened to dismiss Petal GasStorage L.L.C.’s amended proposal in which it seeks to expand thedeliverability of its storage facilities in Mississippi.

Following a consent order from the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) late Friday, Duke Energy announced yesterday that it andPhillips Petroleum closed the deal merging their natural gasgathering and processing businesses under one roof. The agencyconditioned its acceptance of the consent order on Duke agreeing todivest nearly 3,000 miles of gathering lines in the Midcontinent.

After much nudging from the courts, state regulators andindustry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last weekconceded defeat in its battle to justify jurisdiction over a smalllateral in Colorado.

After much nudging from the courts, state regulators andindustry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last weekconceded defeat in its battle to justify jurisdiction over a smalllateral in Colorado.

In a very terse order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissiondenied producers’ request to stay the waiver of the price caps onshort-term capacity release transactions in time for the scheduledlifting of the price ceiling over the weekend.

Kinder Morgan Inc. said it has filed a “motion to dismiss” inColorado Federal District Court and will defend itself against acomplaint filed Dec. 20 by the Justice Department on behalf of theEnvironmental Protection Agency. The complaint alleges KMIsubsidiary Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) failed toobtain all necessary air quality permits when constructing theAkron Compressor Station in Weld County, CO, more than 20 yearsago. It requests penalties up to the statutory maximums of $25,000per day of violation prior to January 30, 1997 and $27,500 for eachday of violation after January 31, 1997.

Exxon Mobil satisfied another condition required by the FederalTrade Commission in its approval of the merger of the two companiesby selling Mobil Alaska Pipeline’s 3% interest in the Trans AlaskaPipeline System to a unit of The Williams Companies, Inc. Terms ofthe sale were not disclosed. ExxonMobil Pipeline will retain its20% interest in the 800-mile pipeline system, which transports onemillion barrels per day of crude oil from Prudhoe Bay on thestate’s North Slope to the Port of Valdez in the south. The stakeadds to Williams’ presence in Alaska, which currently includes apetroleum refinery in North Pole that receives crude oil from theTrans Alaska Pipeline System, a distribution terminal at the Portof Anchorage, 28 retail petroleum convenience stores and aninterest in an air cargo transfer facility at AnchorageInternational Airport.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could go a long waytoward increasing liquidity in the pipeline transportation marketby combining capacity release and pipeline interruptibletransportation under one set of rules, according to the head of thelargest electronic gas and power trading system.