Gets

After working out a compromise on a divisive municipalaggregation issue, both houses of New Jersey’s state legislaturepassed identical deregulation bills Thursday, paving the way forelectric unbundling to begin Aug. 1 and gas unbundling to beginDec. 31. The senate passed the bill by a vote of 27-6, and theassembly passed their version by a count of 59-9, with 10abstentions. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who sources say helpedbroker the bill, has not said when she will sign the legislationinto law.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush appointedBrett A. Perlman of Houstonto the Public Utility Commission of Texas to serve a term endingSept. 1, 2003. Perlman is a management consultant with McKinsey andCo. Inc., specializing in high technology and telecommunications.He is responsible for providing strategic planning advice to seniorexecutives of Fortune 500 companies. He was previously an attorneywith the law firm of Jenkens and Gilchrist in Houston and from1985-89, was an attorney with the Washington D.C. law firm of AkinGump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Large Ohio wholesale natural gas provider Beldenergy haslicensed Prosper NRG Marketing’s “Direct to Market” service toprovide marketers targeting Columbus, OH, with the capability ofgiving prospective customers “Instant Savings Analysis.”

FERC last week played Santa Claus to the natural gas industry bygranting its wish for a second extension of the deadline forcomments on the mega-notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR)addressing short-term capacity issues and notice of inquiry (NOI)focusing on long-term transportation issues (RM98-10, RM98-12]. Butit did not close the door on those few who might want to filecomments under the current schedule.

FERC yesterday played Santa Claus to the natural gas industry bygranting its wish for a second extension of the deadline forcomments on the mega-notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR)addressing short-term capacity issues and notice of inquiry (NOI)focusing on long-term transportation issues (RM98-10, RM98-12]. Butit did not close the door for those few who might want to filecomments under the current schedule.

FERC last week proposed a rulemaking that would update theexisting consensus standards of the Gas Industry Standards Board(GISB) with respect to confirmation practices, standardization ofinformation on pipeline Internet web sites and electronic datasets[RM96-1-011].

Providence Gas Co. (ProvGas) was granted a rematch with state regulators and Aurora Natural Gas of Dallas last week but got only a token $5,000 knocked off of a $323,000 fine the state imposed in September for affiliate favoritism and tariff violations. Judge Stephen T. Scialabba also granted the company’s request for rehearing and reconsideration of $300,000 in refunds to marketers ordered in the Aurora Natural Gas LLC v. Providence Gas Co. case (Docket No. D-98-1).

When the going gets tough, the tough turn to gas. That’s oneconclusion that can be drawn from results of Arthur Andersen’s 11thannual U.S. Oil and Gas Industry Outlook Survey. While 70% of the83 companies responding to the survey said they plan to cutexploration spending or hold it at current levels in the comingyear, gas will get a bigger share of the attention. Nearly half ofthe respondents (49%) plan to focus on gas exploration, an increaseof 20% from a year ago. Another 39% of respondents said they willbalance efforts between oil and gas.

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. received approval fromthe Texas Railroad Commission for field rule amendments that willenable the company to more aggressively develop its Barnett Shalegas reserves in North Texas. The new field rules permit Mitchell todrill wells in the Newark East (Barnett Shale) field on as littleas 40-acre spacing. As a result of increased well density, or”in-fill drilling,” the company expects as many as 100 wells withabout 80 Bcf of estimated net gas reserves will be added to theproved undeveloped category. The new locations bring totalundeveloped well locations to about 200 for the field. The companyalso has identified another 100 probable locations that may beadded in the future.