Hurdles

After years of planning and regulatory hurdles, PG&E Corp.’s National Energy Group (PG&E NEG) began construction Monday on the Harquahala Generating Plant, a 1,048 MW natural gas-fired generating facility located approximately 70 miles west of Phoenix in the town of Tonopah, AZ (see Daily GPI, Aug. 17, 2000).

Almost overwhelming obstacles are blocking competition and change in Mexico’s natural gas and electricity sectors and are going to take time and private investment to overcome, according to one of the country’s energy commissioners.

No news was good news for bulls in the natural gas pit yesterdayas prices bubbled higher late in the session in accordance with thelong-term bull trend. Very little in the way of fresh fundamentalnews was seen to bully prices in either direction and as a resultthe market spent most of the session inside the 10-cent tradingrange etched during the first half hour of trading.

The NiSource-Columbia merger has gotten past two more hurdles on its way toward completion. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) unanimously approved the merger, leaving Virginia as the only state left out of the nine yet to approve it (see NGI, July. 10).

The Alliance Pipeline project crossed one of its last remainingregulatory hurdles on Friday when Canada’s National Energy Boardconcluded it is not likely to cause significant adverseenvironmental effects provided 41 environmental recommendations areimplemented.

As expected following the landmark gas accord in Canada in thefirst week of April, it has been smooth sailing for the merger ofTransCanada and Nova Corp. The Alberta Energy and Utilities Boardgave its blessing to the deal this week. And the companies said theCanadian Competition Bureau has completed its review of thetransaction without requesting alterations.