First

Texaco has halted the decline in its U.S. oil and gas productionand expects to maintain first quarter levels through the rest ofthe year, Comptroller George Batavik told analysts Wednesday.

Compressor damage is causing unscheduled maintenance on Unit Cat Station 5 (Athol, ID), PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest saidMonday. At first a Kingsgate capacity limitation of 2,050 MMcf/dwas expected to begin today and last through Thursday, but lateMonday afternoon the pipeline said it was able to raise theKingsgate ceiling to 2,200 MMcf/d “due to unseasonably cool ambienttemperatures.”

Transco shippers have accumulated a significant negativeimbalance through the first 20 days of April, the pipeline said. Inorder to avoid restrictions that would be caused by a large volumeof receipt makeup transactions requested to flow for a limited timeat the end of the month, Transco urged that such transactions bescheduled as soon as possible to allow a steady flow rate throughApril 30.

The Carolinas are calling out for gas and so far three partieshave answered.

Reliant Energy Gas Transmission has filed the first-everpipeline transportation proposal for an hourly service and rates tomeet the increasing swing load and peaking needs of the powergeneration industry.

Reliant Energy Gas Transmission has filed the first-everpipeline transportation proposal for an hourly service and rates tomeet the increasing swing load and peaking needs of the powergeneration industry.

Enron’s retail energy provider, Enron Energy Services (EES), hasnot turned a profit to date but is expected to do so by the fourthquarter of this year and “from then on,” said Marty Sunde, EES’senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) said it is expecting a decline of 400MMcf/d in gas production during the first quarter of this yearcompared to the same period last year and a drop of about 1 Bcf/dby the second half of the year because of the sharp decline indrilling activity. SSB is forecasting gas production in 1999 willbe down 1 Bcf/d compared to last year.

Prices for the concluding weekend of February maintained thesoftening trend that had started earlier in the week, ranging fromflat to a little over a dime lower. And although swing gas tradedFriday for today’s flow only was flat at a few points, most sourcesagreed that the initial March aftermarket was trending downwardoverall from both bidweek indexes and weekend levels.