Joined

Western Gas Resources has joined the Fort Union Gas GatheringPartnership formed to deliver 450 MMcf/d or more of coal-bedmethane from the Powder River Basin by the end of next year.

Florida Power Corp. has joined in the flurry of new energyprojects spurred by this summer’s record-setting heat wave, filingplans with the Florida Public Service Commission to accelerate thebuilding of a second generation unit at its Hines Energy Complex inPolk County. The unit will provide additional capability to meetgrowing demand for electricity well into the next century. Thecompany has offered to absorb construction costs for the plant inits current customer rates.

Just as Wednesday was an unusual day in having East and Westmarkets rising in tandem, the two regions joined again Friday inmoving in the same direction-only this time the direction was down,way down. Decreases of less than a dime were few, and San JuanBasin plumbed depths not seen in a long time by falling a quarterto the $1.50 area. The Permian Basin and Waha plunged by 20 centsor more.

Patrick J. Maher, chairman of Washington Gas Light, will retireeffective March 1. He will begin his leave pending retirement onDec. 1. Maher joined the company in 1974 as vice president andchief financial officer, and subsequently held the positions ofexecutive vice president of finance and administration, president,and chief executive officer. He has been a member of the board ofdirectors since 1988 and became chairman in 1992.

Kerr-McGee Corp. last week joined a growing number of productioncompanies, including ARCO, Occidental Petroleum and Unocal, thatare restructuring or reducing work forces because of the depressedoil market. Kerr-McGee said it plans to layoff about 70 workers,reducing its Oklahoma City metropolitan area work force by 7% andits exploration and production company staff by a similar amount.

Patrick J. Maher, chairman of Washington Gas Light, will retireeffective March 1. He will begin his leave pending retirement onDec. 1. Maher joined the company in 1974 as vice president andchief financial officer, and subsequently held the positions ofexecutive vice president of finance and administration, president,and chief executive officer. He has been a member of the board ofdirectors since 1988 and became chairman in 1992.

Kerr-McGee Corp. yesterday joined a growing number of companies,including ARCO, Unocal and Occidental Petroleum, that plan torestructure or reduce workforces because of the depressed oilmarket. Kerr-McGee said it plans to layoff about 70 workers,reducing its Oklahoma City metropolitan area workforce by 7% andits exploration and production company staff by a similar amount.The company, which has $3.7 billion in assets and had already shedits coal businesses this year, said the restructuring is designedto save 20% of annual overhead cost, or about $18 million.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. has joined a collaborative effort of20 companies to create the largest survey of business energy use.Southern, the Regional Economic Research (RER), Opinion DynamicsCorp. and the Gas Research Institute plan to survey more than10,000 businesses across the U.S. to obtain detailed information onenergy usage as well as attitudes and behavior of energy buyers.The database and analysis system, called the National BusinessEnergy DataMart, will be packaged with software that providesdetailed analysis down to the individual customer level. Resultsare expected to be available next February.

The small Washington energy law firm Morley Caskin has joinedthe international ranks, merging with the 700-lawyer British firm,Cameron McKenna. Morley Caskin attorneys Joel Zipp and GeorgeWilliams Jr. are among the six lawyers being added to the largerfirm’s Washington office. The move was official Sept. 1, but willnot be physically accomplished until offices are ready next month.