Fifth

Burlington Resources Inc. has completed and tested the fifthDeep Madison formation well, the Bighorn 6-27 at the Madden Fieldin central Wyoming. Burlington, headquartered in Houston, operatesthe well and holds a 49% working interest. The well reached a totaldepth of 25,855 feet in early January and now, Burlington intendsto move to a two-rig development drilling program in the secondquarter. BR currently operates four wells producing from the deepMadison formation, each capable of gross production in excess of 50MMcf/d. Current gross production is approximately 130 MMcf/d fromthe Madison formation, but production is constrained by processingcapacity at the Lost Cabin Gas Plant in Lysite, WY. The plant’sthird train, now under construction, is scheduled for completion inlate 2002, which will allow gross production to increase to a totalof 310 MMcf/d.

New York Mercantile Exchange Chairman Daniel Rappaport hasannounced he will not seek reelection for a fifth term as chairman.Rappaport has been a member of the exchange since 1981 and servedas chairman since 1983.ÿ

After the approval of the fifth and final utility’s electric choiceplan early last month, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)vowed that the next crucial step would be marketer certification. Thatstep was taken last week as FirstEnergy Services, a subsidiary ofFirstEnergy, became one of the first to gain certification to offercustomers electricity in Ohio (see Daily GPI, Oct. 2).

A federal offshore natural gas and oil lease sale — the fifthlargest in 10 years — was completed last month for blocks in thewestern Gulf of Mexico, with $153.6 million in high bids.Houston-based Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. and its partners werethe highest bidders on 22 blocks worth $16.3 million.

A federal offshore natural gas and oil lease sale — the fifthlargest in 10 years — was completed yesterday for blocks in thewestern Gulf of Mexico, with $153.6 million in high bids.Houston-based Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. and its partners werethe highest bidders on 22 blocks worth $16.3 million.

For the fifth week in a row, natural gas futures climbed higheron Friday, as traders loaded up on a little bit of storm insuranceahead of the weekend. Their fear, whether warranted or not, is thatthe market will spike higher Monday morning on the news that a fullscale hurricane is bearing down on gas production assets in theGulf of Mexico. And while it seemed a very unlikely event as ofpress time Friday, it was enough to promote the September contractup 3 cents to $4.436 in a very quiet session.

The fifth sale of blocks in the Western Gulf of Mexico has beenset for Aug. 23 in New Orleans by the U.S. Department of Interior’sMinerals Management Service (MMS). The Final Notice of Sale,published in yesterday’s Federal Register, covers 3,789 availableblocks encompassing about 20.61 million acres in the Western Gulf’sOuter Continental Shelf Planning Area offshore Texas, and in deeperwaters offshore Louisiana. Blocks are located from nine to 200miles offshore in water depths ranging from eight meters to morethan 3,000 meters. The MMS said this is the first Western Gulf saleto require the use of electronic funds transfer procedures for1/5th bonus bids. Current OCS lessees and operators may securepayment using a single bid form; others may be required to securethe EFT payment another way. The Sale Notice Package is availableon the MMS Internet site atwww.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/lsesale.html, or from the Gulf ofMexico Region Public Information Unit, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., NewOrleans, LA 70123-2394. You can also call 504-736-2519 or800-200-GULF.

HoustonStreet Exchange, a Web-based exchange and portal fortrading wholesale energy products, received an equity investmentfrom Conoco Inc., the country’s fifth largest integrated energycompany. The investment marks a major commitment by Conoco to tradecrude oil, refined products (such as heating oil, gasoline and jetfuel) and natural gas on HoustonStreet.com.

Despite notching new annual volume records for the fifth consecutive year since NGI started ranking gas marketers, the pace of volume growth among the top 20 North American gas and power marketers has shown some signs of decline.