Following

Conoco yesterday held its first meeting of stockholders in 18years following the company’s record-setting $4.4 billion initialpublic offering in October 1998, that launched Conoco’s eventualseparation from DuPont. Conoco CEO Archie Dunham said the finalsplit-off from DuPont is expected to occur in the third quarter ofthis year when DuPont will offer its shareholders the opportunityto exchange DuPont shares for Conoco shares.

TransTexas Gas Corp. of Houston said last week, followingdiscussions with a group representing a majority of its parentcompany’s note holders, it voluntarily filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy. The company said it believes the filing will allow forcompletion of its recapitalization involving TransTexas and parent,TransAmerican Energy Corp. Details of the recapitalization plan areexpected to be filed in bankruptcy court within 30 days.

Cinergy’s PSI Energy subsidiary is looking for a new presidentfollowing the retirement of John M. Mutz, who had been president ofthe electric utility since 1993.

TransTexas Gas Corp. of Houston said following discussions witha group representing a majority of its parent company’s noteholders it voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The companysaid it believes the filing will allow for completion of itsrecapitalization involving TransTexas and parent, TransAmericanEnergy Corp. Details of the recapitalization plan are expected tobe filed in bankruptcy court within 30 days.

It should come as no surprise to anyone following the gasindustry that a recent survey of companies found the gas world tobe of “two minds” when it comes to supply-demand issues.

NOVA restored its 16-inch Josephine Lateral in northwest Albertato service Saturday evening following a rupture caused bythird-party construction. The outage was isolated to a 7-kilometersection of the NPS 16 Josephine Lateral Loop about 30 kilometersnorth of Saddle Hills Compressor Station, NOVA said. The pipelinechanged its daily system imbalance tolerance to -2/+18% due to lowlinepack Saturday morning.

“Following the screen”-a market catch-phrase that hasn’t been asmuch in vogue in recent weeks as it used to be-regained popularityMonday as cash prices had little else on which to base modestfirming. New quotes ranged from essentially flat in the Californiaand Northeast markets to as much as a nickel or so higher at pointssuch as the Chicago citygate and El Paso-San Juan (Blanco). Withweather in most areas staying mild and the storage situation stillbearish, it’s hard to see where else beside futures that cash couldhave derived any strength, sources said.

A tight range and relatively quiet trading returned to thenatural gas futures pit on Monday following last Friday’s failedrally that briefly touched overhead resistance. And althoughyesterday’s highs did not approach the $1.875 notched last week,some traders felt the move was constructive for prices. Theprompt-March contract was limited to a 1.8-cent gain to finish at$1.818 for the day.

Following three straight days of advances the bears reclaimedthe futures market last Friday when early selling pressure piercedthrough several interim levels of support. From that point the routwas on as the February contract plummeted sharply lower inafternoon trading. Only the final bell could halt the decline thatleft the prompt month down 11.4 cent to $1.778.