Force

Bears came out of the gate in force Thursday in reaction to ahigher than expected 91 Bcf storage injection, a plummeting futuresscreen and cooling temperatures in the Northeast. But for all thesound and fury most points stayed flat to Wednesday’s results orregistered minuscule drops of a penny or so.

On the heels of a decision showing that Canadian landowners canforce changes, the National Energy Board has called hearings on 38objections to the route of Alliance Pipeline Project.

Unable to complete final agreements with many of its U.S.markets, Maritimes &amp Northeast Pipeline is expected to file anamended certificate application for Phase II of its pipelineproject with FERC this month that will defer construction of nearlyall of its previously planned pipeline laterals in the U.S. It alsois expected to show an increase in rates because of newcalculations of construction costs.

TransCanada Pipelines Monday canceled part of its C$403 millionsystem expansion project on its Canadian Mainline because of aninability to resolve negotiations with a local tribe of Indians,yet the pipeline company insists other parts of the expansion willcontinue. TransCanada would not disclose the nature of thedisagreement except to say the parties could not resolve aboriginaland treaty rights issues as well as future economic opportunityissues.

Bears roamed the gas trading woods in full force Thursday,sending cash prices down by a dime or much more at nearly allpoints. The biggest declines of about 35-45 cents occurred at thepreviously high-flying Transco Zone 6 and Texas Eastern M-3citygates in the Northeast. Although some Zone 6-New York Citydeals were still being quoted above $3, the average there fell intothe mid $2.80s.

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. said it plans to reduceits work force in February through both a voluntary incentiveretirement program and staff cuts, but it did not say how manypositions would be eliminated. The company currently has 1,125employees at offices in east and north Texas. Reductions areexpected throughout the company’s operating areas, not only in theHouston area.

Congressional proponents of royalty in-kind legislation, whichwould force the government to assume the cost of transporting andmarketing its royalty portion of oil and gas production, aredrawing large sums of political action committee donations, softmoney and individual contributions from the oil and gas industry.

Although it is widely believed the collapse of crude oil pricescould force many producers to cut back drilling plans this year,Unocal Corp. was the first company to formally confirm ityesterday. Unocal said it will prune its capital spending by about$250 million to $1.3 billion. According to CEO Roger C. Beach thecapital expenditure reductions will come in three areas: near-termproduction projects that are most heavily affected by lower currentcommodity prices, investments in non-oil and gas businesses, andlonger term exploration projects that could benefit from more dataevaluation. The move probably will not have a significant impact onUnocal’s natural gas production, a spokesman said, adding however,some associated gas production could become a casualty in thecutbacks. No specifics were available.

Trigen Energy announced it is mounting a legal battle to forcePECO Energy to honor terms of a Gray’s Ferry power purchaseagreement. Trigen said the Grays Ferry Cogeneration Partnershipreceived a letter from PECO saying the Pennsylvania utility couldnot pay the full contract price for electricity from the 150 MWcogeneration plant. The plant sells electricity to PECO and steamto Trigen-Philadelphia Energy. It is located in Philadelphia andwent into commercial operation earlier this year. Ironically,Exelon, a wholly owned subsidiary of PECO Energy, is a one-thirdowner in the project with Trigen and NRG Generating.