Going

It looks like NiSource is going to get a run for its money inthe second round of a bidding war for Columbia Energy Group.Columbia informed the Securities and Exchange Commission last weekthat it has received “preliminary indications of interest fromnumerous third parties” during an ongoing open house on the companyand its assets.

It looks like NiSource is going to get a run for its money inthe second round of a bidding war for Columbia Energy Group.Columbia informed the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterdaythat it has received “preliminary indications of interest fromnumerous third parties” during an ongoing open house on the companyand its assets.

It wasn’t difficult to understand why spot prices were going upsharply again Monday when one considers that several new pipelineOFOs related to colder weather joined ongoing OFOs or other systemconstraints (see Transportation Notes). Freezing conditions weresettling into much of the nation’s midsection Monday, with winterstorms expected to penetrate even the Deep South by today. Thepredictable result of such a frigid onslaught was heavy heatingdemand for gas that sent prices higher by about a dime or more onmost pipes. Some points, such as Chicago and Northeast citygatesalong with Upper Midwest deliveries by Northern Natural Gas (demarcand Ventura), achieved gains in excess of 20 cents.

Florida Gas Transmission Company (FGT) proved last week thatit’s not going to give up its monopoly access to the rapidlygrowing Florida market without a fight. The Citrus Corp. subsidiaryfiled its second pipeline expansion application with FERC in a yearin an attempt to head off competition from several proposedgreenfield pipelines, including Williams Companies’ Buccaneerproject, Coastal’s Gulfstream pipeline and Duke Energy’s Sawgrassproject (see NGI, Oct. 4, and Oct. 19).

Florida Gas Transmission Company (FGT) proved yesterday that it’snot going to give up its monopoly access to the rapidly growingFlorida market without a fight. The Citrus Corp. subsidiary filed itssecond pipeline expansion application with FERC in a year in anattempt to head off competition from several proposed greenfieldpipelines, including Williams Companies’ Buccaneer project, Coastal’sGulfstream pipeline and Duke Energy’s Sawgrass project (see Daily GPI,July 12,Oct. 1 and Oct. 15).

A big fish gobbled up yet another small fish in the Northeastlast week as Southern Union Co. (SU), the spurned suitor ofSouthwest Gas, announced it agreed to purchase Providence Energy(ProvEnergy) for a total transaction value of $400 million. Thedeal, which SU expects to close in nine to 12 months, representsSU’s third Northeast utility purchase this year. If all these dealsare completed, Southern Union will serve 1.5 million customers inRhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Missouri andFlorida.

Two on-going lawsuits is enough, a California Superior Courtjudge said in dismissing Southern Union’s challenge in his court tothe merger plans of Southwest Gas with Oneok. Judge Ronald Pragerdismissed the case last Friday because SU is making the samearguments in the federal courts of Nevada and Arizona, the LasVegas-based Southwest said. The case was dismissed withoutprejudice, meaning SU can re-file upon resolution or termination ofthe federal actions.

KN Energy has discovered there is more than just cheddar cheeseproduction going on in Wisconsin these days. Potential customersfrom “all segments of the industry” showed interest in its proposedHorizon Pipeline project and have signed preliminary agreements for800 MMcf/d of firm capacity, the company said yesterday.

It was like old times again (if you can regard February as “oldtimes”) for traders Friday as weekend swing pricing leveled offwith little change from Thursday. It reminded some of the longperiods last month when there was practically no volatility in thecash market. The small gains handily outweighed a few scatteredpenny drops in the West for an overall showing of flat to a smidgenhigher.