Field

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a two-day high-inventory OFO beyond Thursday.

The onset of competition in Canadian natural gas transportation may have made the field riskier for TransCanada PipeLines, but not by enough to persuade the nation’s principal regulator, the National Energy Board (NEB), that the change justifies rich compensation. The NEB handed down a long-awaited verdict on effects of industry upheavals since the late 1990s, concluding that the pipeline deserves a 2% raise in rates rather than the 12% increase it had requested.

Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) reports a test well in an offshore deposit in the Veracruz state, the Lankahuasa, is yielding dry gas production of 15.4 MMcf/d. The Lankahuasa is one of three newly discovered sources of non-associated natural gas announced in March by Pemex.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., announced Friday that the construction and commissioning of the Ladyfern Sales natural gas pipeline from the Ladyfern field to TransCanada PipeLines in Alberta has been completed. The 20-inch, 7.5-mile Ladyfern Sales line with a capacity of 600 MMcf/d went onstream Friday.

Drilling and oil field services company BJ Services is buying Lafayette, LA-based OSCA Inc. for $28/share or about $420 million. OSCA is a major provider of oil and gas well completion fluids, completion services and downhole completion tools in the United States and select international markets, and will give BJ Services another solid completion product line to market to its broad geographic area.

Falcon Gas Storage Co. said it has started natural gas deliveries from its Hill-Lake Gas Storage field in Eastland County, TX. Deliveries are being made through the new Cisco Pipeline, which links Hill-Lake with the North Texas Pipeline (owned jointly by TXU Fuels and El Paso Energy Partners) and Lone Star Pipeline’s Line “X.”

Drilling and oil field services company BJ Services is buying Lafayette, LA-based OSCA Inc. for $28/share or about $420 million. OSCA is a major provider of oil and gas well completion fluids, completion services and downhole completion tools in the United States and select international markets, and will give BJ Services another solid completion product line to market to its broad geographic area.

Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) and a unit of Williams have agreed to an exchange of natural gas gathering and processing interests located in Wyoming, Texas and Oklahoma. Under the agreement, Williams will receive DEFS’s 34% interest in the Echo Springs processing plant and related gathering system near Wamsutter, WY. In exchange, DEFS will receive Williams’ Oklahoma-based Hugoton gathering system and three gas processing plants: Baker, in Baker, OK; Hobart Ranch, in Canadian, TX; and South Bishop, in Ellis County, OK. In addition to operating the Echo Springs facilities, Williams now will own 100% of the complex. It recently finished expanding Echo Springs’ capacity to almost 400 MMcf/d.Williams and DEFS have already completed the Federal Trade Commission review period and expect to close the transaction in the first quarter of 2002.

Duke Energy Field Services (DEFS) and a unit of Williams have agreed to an exchange of natural gas gathering and processing interests located in Wyoming, Texas and Oklahoma. Under the agreement, Williams will receive DEFS’s 34% interest in the Echo Springs processing plant and related gathering system near Wamsutter, WY. In exchange, DEFS will receive Williams’ Oklahoma-based Hugoton gathering system and three gas processing plants: Baker, in Baker, OK; Hobart Ranch, in Canadian, TX; and South Bishop, in Ellis County, OK.