Southern Union gained permission Tuesday to join an existinglawsuit against Southwest Gas in a last-ditch attempt to overtakeOneok as the winner in the race to merge with Southwest. Thelawsuit accuses Southwest Gas’ board of directors of refusing tonegotiate with Southern Union in good faith. None of the partiesinvolved would comment further on the situation as of press time.
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Energy.Com, Columbia Join Forces
Energy.Com and Columbia Gas of Ohio have teamed up to enableColumbia Gas customers to switch suppliers online from theEnergy.com web site as part of the utility’s customer choiceprogram. It marks Energy.com’s entrance into active deregulationenrollment services, the company said.
UGI to Shed Utility As Part of Merger Deal
The merger bandwagon continued last week as UGI Corp. announceda proposed deal that would join its retail propane marketingbusiness with the largest marketer and distributor of printing andimaging paper and supply systems. UGI will sell UGI Utilities aspart of the transaction, making it the first company “in recenttimes” to completely shed itself of its utility business. Thecompany says it can take such a dramatic step because, unlike otherutilities, it has another “very distinct” business (propane) thataccounts for about two-thirds of its annual revenues.
Gas, Electrics, TeleCom Industries Join on Y2K
Representatives of the major utility industries, natural gas,electricity and telecommunications, met in Houston this week tojointly address Y2K issues. Gary Gardner, chief information officerof the American Gas Association (AGA) cited interlocking activitiesas the basis for the meeting. For instance electricity powers manyof the pipeline compressor stations that keep the natural gasflowing. “Although gas companies have manual overrides that can beused in the event of an electrical power shortage or outage, fieldpersonnel posted at the compressor stations will rely ontelecommunications devices to communicate with their headquarters.
Energy Firms Join Cooperative Marketing Effort
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.
Dynegy, Texaco Join Permian Gathering, Processing
Texaco and Dynegy formed Versado Gas Processors LLC, a jointventure of both companies’ processing facilities in southeast NewMexico and associated gas gathering assets in New Mexico and WestTexas. The new company will operate facilities with a combinedprocessing capacity of 341 MMcf/d of gas. Texaco will own 37% whileDynegy will own 63%. Dynegy will operate the plants under contractwith Versado.
Enron, KeySpan Join to Serve Northeast LDCs
Spurred by deregulation and the changing role of localdistribution companies, KeySpan Energy, parent of Brooklyn UnionGas, and Enron Capital & Trade Resources (ECT) made an allianceto market gas supply management services to LDCs throughout theNortheast.
CNE Energy Services Joins LNG Venture
Connecticut Energy Corp. said subsidiary CNE Energy ServicesGroup signed a letter of intent with Conectiv to join a liquefiednatural gas (LNG) storage joint venture. This new business, to benamed Total Peaking Services (TPS), will use an existing 1.2 BcfLNG storage facility in Milford, CT. The venture has received FERCauthorization to provide open access storage; but is awaitingtariff approval, expected later this spring.
Cash Prices Join Screen in Falling Like a Rock
The futures screen “fell like a rock” Monday and, of course,cash prices then had to do likewise, said a Gulf Coast producer.Some points were essentially flat, such as Northwest (both domesticand Sumas) and NorAm-east. Others dropped 2-9 cents, with declinesof a nickel most common. Activity was fairly light, especiallysince some traders hadn’t returned yet from the holiday weekend, amarketer noted. But what prices lacked in volume they made up involatility as a number of points saw double-digit ranges. Onesource said his Chicago deals went from $2.64 early on to $2.49 atthe end.
Most of West Fails to Join Overall Firming
As sources had predicted, Wednesday’s run-up on the Nymex screenset the stage for cash price rises Thursday, which were abetted byfurther futures gains. There was even some expected cold weatherdemand in the central and eastern sections of the U.S. to help giveprices a little boost, traders said. Increases were on the modestside, mostly within a range of 2-5 cents.