Industry

Warm winter weather normally means trouble for the gas industry,but for Northern Border, which is attempting to completeconstruction of a major pipeline expansion/extension project, ithas been a blessing. After a month and a half delay because summerrains set back construction, the pipeline company is expecting tohave its project in service some time between Thursday, Dec. 17,and Sunday, Dec. 20, with the entire 700 MMcf/d capacity beingfully utilized “almost immediately,” said Robert Hill, vicepresident of marketing and business development for the pipeline.

A joint study to be released today reveals that the price datareported by the gas industry’s three major publications – NaturalGas Intelligence, Inside Ferc and Gas Daily – is both consistentand reliable.

CMS Energy surprised the industry early last week when itreached south from its Michigan gas and electric distribution baseto buy the Panhandle Eastern and Trunkline Gas pipeline companies -pipes, storage and LNG terminal – from Duke Energy, locking in itsown supply line to the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast. The companyalso articulated a strategy to capitalize on demand for gas-firedpower generation in the Midwest, and ended the week bydemonstrating it.

Thanks to energy industry deregulation, Sempra Energy Solutions,a Sempra Energy subsidiary, entered into a contract Thursday to actas energy consultant to W.W. Grainger Inc., a leading distributorof maintenance, repair, and operating supplies. “We recognize thatenergy is no longer a one-point, one-choice, one-price service,”said Craig Kozak, real estate project manager for W.W. GraingerInc., “For this reason, we have contracted with Sempra EnergySolutions to assist us through the landscape of today’s competitivemarketplace.”

Duke Energy credited a diverse portfolio for insulating it fromthe energy industry’s downturn. The company reported 1998 thirdquarter basic earnings of $1.18/share, up 42% from 83 cents/sharefor the same quarter in 1997. Duke posted earnings of $423.8million for the third quarter, compared to $298.4 million for thesame quarter in 1997. Overall earnings before interest and taxes(EBIT) for the third quarter of 1998 was $870.9 million versus$632.2 million for the third quarter of 1997.

While efforts to deregulate the electric industry at both thestate and federal level drag on, at least one internationalobserver found U.S. gas deregulation worthy of praise. RobertPriddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency(IEA) in Paris, told reporters at the 17th Congress of the WorldEnergy Council that the United States leads the world in gascompetition.

Industry reports that the start-up of the Canada-to-IllinoisNorthern Border Pipeline expansion, which has been planned forearly December, may be delayed are unfounded, said an officialassociated with the project.

While efforts to deregulate the electric industry at both thestate and federal level drag on, at least one internationalobserver found U.S. gas deregulation worthy of praise. RobertPriddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency(IEA) in Paris, told reporters at the 17th Congress of the WorldEnergy Council that the United States leads the world in gascompetition. Priddle said he is heartened by the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s (FERC) decision to review pipeline rateregulation. Priddle gave his talk to highlight findings of theIEA’s report card on U.S. energy policy. The findings stem from a1998 review and are published by the agency in a 152-page book.

Prosper Business Development Corp., along with Energy.com Corp.,has launched the energy industry’s first cooperative marketingcampaign aimed at eliminating the confusion about gas retail choiceat the small commercial and residential level, and at making itaffordable for gas marketing companies to target these two customerclasses.