June

Amerada Hess agreed to buy gas and power marketer Statoil Energy ServicesInc. of Alexandria, VA, for what a Hess spokesman said was less than $25million. Statoil Energy Services serves industrial and commercial customers,mainly in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The fallout from a June products pipeline explosion in thePacific Northwest is spilling over into the realm of natural gas,with renewed calls for greater regulation, inspection and morelocal control of pipelines.

The fallout from a June products pipeline explosion in thePacific Northwest is spilling over into the realm of natural gas,with renewed calls for greater regulation, inspection and morelocal control of pipelines.

The Chancery Court of Delaware is stepping up the pace on alawsuit filed on June 24 against Columbia Energy Group by NiSource,NiSource said yesterday. The court has called for an acceleratedschedule for the case in which NiSource is seeking to compelColumbia to reopen its 1999 annual meeting so that another directorcan be elected to a vacant seat on Columbia’s board.

After beginning last week in the middle of a three-dayhigh-inventory OFO (see Daily GPI, June 22), Pacific Gas &Electric declared another one for Saturday after previously sayingit expected system linepack to remain well above the utility’starget through the weekend. The new order carried a positiveimbalance tolerance of 11% and penalties of $1/dth fornon-compliance.

Northern Natural Gas declared a System Underrun Limitation forSunday, June 20, in market-area Zones ABC, D and E/F to guardagainst excessive supplies.

Mojave Pipeline reversed an earlier bulletin board posting (see Daily GPI, June 16), emphasizing that itwould “not” shut in part of its West Lateral Thursday and cause theshut-ins of “17Z”-labeled interconnects with Chevron, Mobil, Shell andTexaco. However, Mojave said, a maintenance shut-in of the Oxy 17Zinterconnect was to proceed as scheduled Thursday and today.

Questar rescheduled last Tuesday’s planned ball launching toThursday, June 3. Major allocations are expected.

Costilla Energy Inc. of Midland, TX, is examining its optionsafter lenders extended until June 1 a $10.2 million mandatoryprincipal payment due a bank credit facility. Petrie Parkman &ampCo. was hired to weigh potential deals.