Finalized

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service has finalized Cook Inlet Lease Sale 191 scheduled for May 19 in conjunction with an Alaska state lease sale in the area. MMS estimates the region may contain up to 1 Tcf of recoverable natural gas.

The Long Beach, CA, city-run energy department Tuesday finalized a new, three-year natural gas supply deal with Shell’s gas marketing arm, Coral, providing about 5 Bcf annually beginning April 1, according the city’s energy services manager, Alyce McCall.

The Long Beach, CA, city-run energy department Tuesday finalized a new, three-year natural gas supply deal with Shell’s gas marketing arm, Coral, providing about 5 Bcf annually beginning April 1, according the city’s energy services manager, Alyce McCall.

Sterling Energy Resources said Monday it has finalized a natural gas pipeline connection agreement with Williams Natural Gas regarding a proposed hook-up in Northeast Kansas.

Pressured by its lenders to restrict dividends before credit agreements could be finalized, CMS Energy Corp. last week cut its common dividend 50%, to an annual rate of 72 cents a share. Whether the dividend is restored or even continued after the end of this year will depend on how well the business performs in the future, CFO Alan Wright told analysts during a conference call. By cutting the dividend, however, CMS reached agreement with a group of 21 banks on five credit facilities totaling $1.3 billion.

New rules for Ohio retail gas marketers were finalized Tuesday by state regulators. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) put the finishing touches on rules that will require marketer certification, allow governmental aggregation for competitive retail natural gas service and will provide regulators with much greater consumer protection authority.

Westcoast Energy Inc. finalized on Wednesday its previouslyannounced acquisition of the remaining 50% of the Empire StatePipeline for approximately $75 million, increasing its stake in thenatural gas line to 100%. The company first announced it wasacquiring the remaining 50% interest from Coastal Corp. in Novemberof 2000 (see Daily GPI, Nov. 10, 2000). The 156-mile pipeline runsfrom the Canada/United States border near Niagara, through New YorkState to an interconnect near Syracuse, NY. The pipeline has arated capacity of 525 MMcf/d. “We are pleased to now have fullownership of this valuable link to our Union Gas system, our Dawnhub and markets in Upper New York State and the northeast U.S.,”said Michael Phelps, CEO of Westcoast.

The Texas Public Utility Commission last week finalized rules,which among other things, guarantee utility customers get a 6% ratecut when retail competition begins Jan. 1, 2002. The final rulesestablish the price utility affiliates will be allowed to charge.

Regional Reliability Councils and their members are about 90%compliant, but work still needs to be done to bring standards upand encourage non-members to join, according to the latest reportfrom the North American Electricity Reliability Council. NERC haspublished its findings for the second of four phases of its Year2000 Compliance Program, created to ensure adherence to NERC andregional standards.