Journey

Oil and natural gas producers operating in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are going “further out and further down” in their quest to secure new energy reserves, a journey fueled by technology, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) director said Monday.

Marking another step in the long journey to get the shuttered 935 MW Davis Besse nuclear power plant back online, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC) officials last week said that a recent pressure test at the plant fully met all of its objectives, including validation of the integrity of the bottom of the plant’s reactor vessel and of the reactor coolant system.

Almost four years after the project was proposed, 142-mile interstate Guardian Pipeline system started operations on Dec. 7, transporting gas to markets in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin from interconnections with ANR Pipeline, Alliance, Northern Border, Midwestern Gas Transmission and Natural Gas Pipeline of America at the Chicago Hub near Joliet, IL. (see NGI, March 15, 1999).

Almost four years after the project was proposed, Guardian Pipeline, a 142-mile interstate natural gas pipeline, announced Monday that it began operations on Saturday, Dec. 7 (see Daily GPI, March 11, 1999).

After briefly testing resistance in the $2.00 area Wednesdaymorning, the futures market continued its journey lower as traderswere able to look past the short-term bullish impacts of coldweather and associated pipeline operational flow orders to focus onthe longer-term implications of storage and forecasts calling forwarmer weather. The February contract finished 4.4-cents lower at$1.931.

Cash prices across the board Friday displayed softness for thesecond day in a row, reflecting a moderating weather forecast forthe weekend and further into this week. Despite a small late bounceback in some markets, prices in most areas finished the dayaveraging 1 to 10 cents less than Thursday’s levels.