Launch

FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment on Central NewYork Oil & Gas Co.’s (CNYOG) Stagecoach Natural Gas StorageFacility, which is to be located near Binghamton, NY.

In a complete about-face, Dearborn, MI-based CMS Energy Corp.has jettisoned major financial restructuring plans to create atracking stock for its Consumers Energy unit. Low stock marketvaluations of utility companies forced the decision, according tocompany officials, and instead CMS plans to gain $700 million byselling some non-strategic assets and reducing its debt – a planexpected to offer more value to shareholders. The news comes alongwith word that first-quarter earnings were down to 70 cents perdiluted share, compared with 80 cents per diluted share for thesame period in 1999.

The Internet e-commerce bandwagon rolled on yesterday with 15more riders. A consortium of 15 US electric and gas companies plansto launch an Internet marketplace for the energy industry and itssuppliers. The companies include American Electric Power, Cinergy,Consolidated Edison Inc., Duke Energy, Edison International,Entergy, FirstEnergy Corp., FPL Group, PG&E Corp., PublicService Enterprise Group, Reliant Energy, Sempra Energy, SouthernCompany, TXU and Unicom.

SRS (Strategic Resource Solutions Corp.), a subsidiary ofCarolina Power & Light has announced the launch of a newInternet-based system that helps clients improve facility controland reduce operating costs. SiteNetT Command Center, the latestweb-based solution from SRS, enables clients to integrate multiplesites for centralized energy and facility management. Based onInternet and Intranet standards, SiteNet Command Center integratesmultiple facility systems through a Single Window(SM) forcentralized navigation, monitoring and control of facility andenergy information. Using a standard web browser, clients havereal-time access to their facility solutions, ranging from buildingcontrol systems to energy, maintenance and asset managementsystems. SiteNet Command Center is an integrated tool formonitoring and managing maintenance, operations and energy costs,as well as preparing for energy negotiations in a deregulatedutility market.

BGE shareholders approved the formation of holding companyConstellation Energy Group Inc. Constellation Energy is now set tobe launched May 3, trading under the CEG ticker symbol on the NewYork Stock Exchange. Constellation Energy will be the parentcompany that holds BGE’s common stock and the common stock of allof BGE’s current subsidiaries. BGE will become a sibling to itscurrent subsidiaries and will remain regulated by the MarylandPublic Service Commission.

Duke Energy, Iroquois Pipeline and Williams Cos. have teamed upto build a $240 million gas pipeline, called the LighthousePipeline, to extend under Long Island Sound to southernConnecticut. The pipeline would transport U.S. and Canadian naturalgas from Williams’ Transco pipeline, Duke’s Algonquin and TexasEastern pipelines and the Iroquois pipeline to new generationprojects in Southern Connecticut. It’s also expected to facilitatedevelopment of other power generation projects on Long Island.

Touchstone Energy is planning to launch a national brandingcampaign this weekend with television, radio and print ads in 20major American markets, primarily to keep as many of its 11 millionretail customers from getting cherry-picked by power marketers. Andit is considering adding natural gas, propane, telecommunicationsand security services to its future energy mix.

Despite a three-month delay because of technical interfaceproblems, the California Independent System Operator and theCalifornia Power Exchange Corp. (PX) announced they have completeda week’s worth of testing and have notified FERC they’re ready toopen the statewide electricity market on March 31. They intend tocommence operations by accepting bids in the Day Ahead market onMarch 31 with the first full day of operations being the day after.

In the official launch of the $3 billion Sable Offshore EnergyProject (SOEP) in Halifax earlier this week, project owners raisedexpectations for gas reserves and production. “Our ongoingtechnical studies and interpretation of the 3-D seismic informationgathered in 1996 and 1997 show that the potential exists for morethan the 3.1 Tcf we estimated as the basis for our development planapplication,” said Mobil Oil Canada President Jerry Anderson. “Thegood news is that we might expect to recover more than 3.5 Tcf.This larger potential resource base will enable us to increaseinitial production rates to more than 500 MMcf/d, depending on suchfactors as markets, well performance and operating efficiency.” Theowners originally expected 460 MMcf/d. The additional production,however, will be within the facilities design capacity of 554MMcf/d, they said.