Firm

Globalization hit the paper energy market yesterday with the bidby the U.S. investment subsidiary of a Dutch banking firm forMerrill Lynch’s energy futures, options and commodities business,and the takeover of Natsource LLC, a leading U.S. broker of naturalgas and electricity, by a London wholesale money broker.

Cove Point LNG LP, a subsidiary of Herndon, VA-based ColumbiaEnergy Group, is holding an open season through March 16 for a firmLNG tanker discharging service at its Cove Point LNG terminal. Thenew service will include the unloading of LNG from tankers, LNGstorage, vaporization, and delivery of gas to points along CovePoint’s existing pipeline.

Cove Point LNG Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Herndon,VA-based Columbia Energy Group, is holding an open season throughMarch 16 for a firm LNG tanker discharging service at its CovePoint LNG terminal. The new service will include the unloading ofLNG from tankers, LNG storage, vaporization, and delivery of gas topoints along Cove Point’s existing pipeline.

Things are looking up, at least a little, for offshore rigutilization, according to Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co.(DCR). The firm says operating rates have increased steadily overthe past 12 months as drilling day rates for a shallow waterjack-up rig have risen from a low of $22,000 to current levels ofaround $50,000. Offshore rig utilization has also steadilyincreased from a low of 72% during the summer of 1999, to 81% inFebruary 2000. Oil prices are averaging better than $20/barrel andOPEC countries continue to adhere to new, reduced productionquotas, resulting in lower reported crude oil supplies. Also,according to Oil & Gas Journal, natural gas energy consumptionis projected to increase 8.4 % by 2002.

Jim Buccigross, regulatory division manager of Boston-basedenergy consulting firm Skipping Stone Inc., is the energyindustry’s first Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB)-certifiedreviewer. Through GISB, Buccigross has the authority to review andcertify that a company’s software meets crucial criteria thatsupports GISB-set standards.

Semco Energy Inc. of Port Huron, MI, broadened its presence inthe southern United States by acquiring two construction companiesand an engineering firm that provide services mainly to gas andtelecommunications companies.

Prosper Business Development Corp., a Columbus, OH-basedconsulting and marketing firm, released an addendum to a previousreport on deregulating energy markets yesterday, citing a new listof pitfalls in the changing energy environment. The report,”Accelerating Energy’s Challenge to Change,” is intended to enhanceenergy marketers’ profitability as they enter deregulating markets.

ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller, an environmental and engineeringservices consulting firm, and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) haveformed an alliance to commercialize natural gas co-firing andrelated technologies that significantly enhance steam boilerperformance.

A proprietary storage technology developed by a Houston-basedfirm could “obviate” the need in the short term for some of thepipeline capacity additions that have been proposed to meet thepower generation-fueled growth in gas demand anticipated for theNortheast market, says a company official.