Growing

Seeking to add to its growing total of liquefied natural gas(LNG) deliveries at the Lake Charles, LA, complex, CMS Energyannounced a master agreement with Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Co.(ADGAS) yesterday for the purchase of spot cargoes from ADGAS toCMS Marketing, Services and Trading (CMS-MST). The volumes to bedelivered pursuant to the master agreement will be determined basedupon available production and market conditions, the company said.Financial terms or specific conditions within the agreement werenot disclosed.

Despite continued expansion of revenues in energy trading andservices, PG&E Corp. reported continued depressed earningsresults in those two areas in the third quarter, along with red inkin its Texas operations. Its traditional Pacific Northwestinterstate pipeline, combination utility and merchant power plantbusinesses all continue to be its money-makers, although down orabout the same compared to similar three-month and nine-monthresults last year.

Outsourcing of pipes and wires energy delivery lines of businessin North America will increase significantly over the next fouryears, according to a study conducted by META Group’s EnergyInformation Strategies (EIS).

Interest in gas from the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) isgrowing in the Northeast. BP Amoco said it will market some of theproduction, and a distribution franchise has been awarded to servethe province of New Brunswick. Long-term gas and oil supplies fromAtlantic Canada could play a major role in meeting Northeastdemand, according to a recent study.

Southern Co., the largest electric generator in the country,still plans to hire 1,000 more people before the end of the year.Many of the job openings are in the unregulated sector, the companysaid last week. So far in 1999, Southern has filled 2,000 vacant ornew positions.

Cross Timbers Oil Co. of Fort Worth, TX, continues to grow itspresence in the Arkoma Basin with an acquisition from Houston-basedOcean Energy Inc. Ocean Energy agreed to sell its working interestin certain properties in the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas and Oklahomato Cross Timbers for about $235.3 million, which will be used toreduce debt. The transaction, which is subject to customary closingconditions, is scheduled to close by mid-September.

FERC yesterday issued a preliminary determination (PD) forFlorida Gas Transmission’s Phase IV mainline expansion project inwhich it seeks to meet the growing gas needs of the burgeoningpower generation market in Florida.

Generation is out and distribution is in. At least that’s the thinking behind last week’s announcement that Energy East, the parent company of Upstate New York’s combination utility New York State Electric & Gas will buy CMP Group, parent of Maine’s largest electric utility, Central Maine Power, for $1.2 billion in cash and debt.

In its latest bid to add generation assets to its growingportfolio, Reliant Energy selected a 125-acre plot of land inMcHenry County, IL, last week as the site to develop a 500 MW,gas-fired power plant. The cost of the project was not disclosed. AReliant spokesperson said the company hopes to have the plant inservice by mid-2001.