Half

After about half a year of negotiations, a first step has beentaken towards filling in the last missing link in the Canadianeast-west pipeline grid for natural gas. The Quebec and NewBrunswick governments set a date of Feb. 28 for a formal signingceremony for an agreement-in-principle on promoting construction ofa gas link between their provinces.

Strong and growing interest in LNG importation spurred ColumbiaLNG Corp. to go ahead and buy the other half of the Cove Point LNGLimited Partnership it did not already own from Potomac ElectricPower Co. unregulated subsidiary Potomac Capital Investment Corp.

After a long six and a half years as a commissioner on theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission, Vicky A. Bailey is steppingdown effective Feb. 1 to serve as president of PSI Energy Inc.,Indiana’s largest electric utility and a subsidiary of CinergyCorp. PSI serves more than 655,000 customers in 69 of the state’s92 counties.

After a long six and a half years as a commissioner on theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission, Vicky A. Bailey is steppingdown effective Feb. 1 to serve as president of PSI Energy Inc.,Indiana’s largest electric utility and a subsidiary of CinergyCorp. PSI serves more than 655,000 customers in 69 of the state’s92 counties.

Kinder Morgan Inc. made several significant moves last week as part of its “back to basics” strategy, which is designed to streamline and increase the efficiency of the businesses acquired through its merger with KN Energy earlier this year (see NGI, July 12, Aug. 9, and Aug. 20). Company officials, however, say they are only midway through this transition, and there have been quite a few changes to their original plans.

One year after opening its entire Ohio territory to retail gassupplier competition, Columbia Gas of Ohio said nearly 500,000customers, or about one-third of those eligible, are buying gasfrom marketers rather than the utility. Columbia serves 1.3 millioncustomers in the state.

One year after opening its entire Ohio territory to retail gassupplier competition, Columbia Gas of Ohio said nearly 500,000customers, or about one-third of those eligible, are buying gasfrom marketers rather than the utility. Columbia serves 1.3 millioncustomers in the state.

Although the E&P software and services business is abillion-dollar-a-year industry, more than half of the world’sgeoscientists are not using currently available computer technologyto evaluate prospects, according to Bob Stevenson, president ofE&P software provider Geographix, a Houston-based subsidiary ofLandmark Graphics.

Not even the best financial quarter since the fourth quarter of1997 could prevent BP Amoco from following through with itsjob-cutting plan as the company said it will cut 2,000 morepredominantly US jobs before the year is over. The integratedenergy giant has already slashed 12,500 jobs from the pay roll. Itwould not elaborate on which US jobs would be eliminated.