Gave

FERC last week gave Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line the go-aheadto build a $1.2 million lateral and associated facilities in NorthCarolina over the objections of state regulators, who argued thefacilities would constitute a bypass of a local distributioncompany.

FERC last week gave Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line the go-aheadto build a $1.2 million lateral and associated facilities in NorthCarolina over the objections of state regulators, who argued thefacilities would constitute a bypass of a local distributioncompany.

New cogeneration plants are on the move in California, but theymay not be built fast enough to keep up with growing demand.

FERC yesterday gave Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. (WIC) thego-ahead to construct and operate the Medicine Bow Lateral thatwould connect its system to significant coal-bed methane gasreserves in Wyoming.

Sir John Browne, BP Amoco’s CEO, gave a peek into the integratedenergy giant’s future Thursday as he told analysts in London of aworldwide three-year plan to cut $4 billion in costs, sell $10billion in non-core assets, and boost capital expenditures $26billion. The company’s overall goal is to add six percentage pointsto its return on capital by the end of the three-year period.Browne also announced plans for a shareholder meeting Sept. 1, whenthe merger with Arco will go to a vote.

FERC yesterday gave its endorsement to a transmission rateschedule proposed by Reliant Energy Gas Transmission that willenable the company to meet the hourly peaking needs of powergenerators. With this action, Reliant becomes the first gaspipeline capable of providing such service.

FERC shot down one major Midwest-to-Northeast pipeline projectyesterday but gave another competing project a final green light.The $447 million Vector Pipeline emerged victorious, receivingFERC’s final approval and a presidential permit in a draft order,while the $400 million TriState Pipeline was sent back to thedrawing board to redesign the pipeline-lease portion of itsproposal.

Follow-through on the heels of Monday’s Nymex strength gave bulltraders an optimistic outlook early yesterday. However, theireuphoria was short-lived when a combination of fund and localselling pushed the market down near stubborn support at $2.205.June trimmed its losses into the close, finishing 6.6 cents lowerat $2.236.

Both El Paso Energy and Coastal Corp. wracked up record earningsfor the first quarter, while The Williams Cos. gave a lacklusterperformance – with most of its major business groups posting lowerresults compared to a year ago.