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Attempting to lower its energy costs, Washington-based PugetSound Energy announced yesterday an agreement to buy out theremainder of a large gas-supply contract from Cabot Oil & GasCo. for $12 million. As a result of this deal, Puget will becomethe supplier to its own 160 MW co-generation plant near Bellingham,WA, which it purchased earlier this year. Puget expects to reduceits gas costs by 5 to 15% annually for the duration of theremaining nine years of the contract.

A large negotiated rate contract between Northern Natural andits affiliated Enron North America Corp. made it through FERC lastweek, but not without a promise of further regulatory scrutiny.FERC accepted the deal, which covers about one-third of Northern’sfirm space, on the condition that the pipeline submit a detailedexplanation of how the various pricing options work. The follow-upreview is based largely on a protest filed by Northern shipper GPMGas.

A large negotiated rate contract between Northern Natural andits affiliated Enron North America Corp. made it through FERCyesterday, but not without a promise of further regulatoryscrutiny. FERC accepted the deal, which covers about one-third ofNorthern’s firm space, on the condition that the pipeline submit adetailed explanation of how the various pricing options work. Thefollow-up review is based largely on a protest filed by Northernshipper GPM Gas.

Warm weather forecasts and the large separation between cash andfutures prices spoiled the nice rally futures traders had goinglate last week. Prices opened down a nickel, made slight gains andthen slid the rest of the day. After opening at $2.600, Decemberposted a mid-day high at $2.635 and then collapsed to a low of$2.520. It settled down 12.5 cents at $2.524. January lost 10.7cents to settle at $2.681, and February slipped 8.5 cents to endthe day at $2.640/MMBtu.

What are the chances that the U.S. would experience yet anotherwarmer-than-normal winter after just having two in a row?Apparently they’re pretty good right now, according to a new winterweather forecast released last week by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration. One thing is certain: the La Ninatropical Pacific sea temperature event, which is expected toinfluence this winter’s weather, will throw a monkey wrench intoregional weather forecasting models.

Continuing the expansion beyond its core utility operations,FirstEnergy Corp. made a splash in the unregulated sector last weekwhen its energy services marketing arm, FirstEnergy Services,announced a management and supply deal with Republic TechnologiesInternational, Inc. (RTI), one of the largest producers of specialbar-quality steel products in the U.S. The deal, which is thelargest service agreement FirstEnergy has ever signed, couldproduce more than $1 billion in commodity and energy service salesover the span of the five-year contract.

Continuing the expansion beyond its core utility operations,FirstEnergy Corp. made a splash in the unregulated sector yesterdaywhen its energy services marketing arm, FirstEnergy Services,announced a management and supply deal with Republic TechnologiesInternational, Inc. (RTI), one of the largest producers of specialbar-quality steel products in the U.S. The deal, which is thelargest service agreement FirstEnergy has ever signed, couldproduce more than $1 billion in commodity and energy service salesover the span of the five-year contract.

CMS Energy Corp. is capitalizing on a large supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world market and is bringing two new LNG shipments to its CMS Trunkline LNG complex at Lake Charles, LA, in September. They are being delivered by CMS Marketing, Services and Trading, and by Duke Energy Corp.

Consolidated Natural Gas paid a hefty price during the secondquarter for its proposed merger with Dominion Resources. Thecompany took a one-time $165.3 million, $1.12/share, charge relatedprimarily to cash-out of stock options and awards to about 700employees and took another $6.3 million charge, $0.04/share, for aworkforce reduction related to the merger. CNG reported a secondquarter loss from continuing operations of $80 million, or 83 centsa diluted share, compared with income of $46.8 million, or 49 centsa diluted share, a year earlier. The comparison was made worse by a$13.9 million, or $0.15/share, gain in 2Q98 related to a favorableregulatory decision. Excluding special items for both periods,income from continuing operations was 33 cents a diluted share in2Q99, compared to 34 cents in 2Q98. Wall Street consensus had CNGpegged quite a bit higher at $0.39/share.