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To borrow a little from Shakespeare, the Summer of 2000 in SanDiego has been the season of consumers’ extreme discontent.Consumers burn their bills in protest, others just are burning.State officials, led by Gov. Gray Davis, claim profit-hungrynon-utility power plant owners have taken advantage of severesupply shortages to gouge consumers. But what’s the real story?

For the fifth week in a row, natural gas futures climbed higheron Friday, as traders loaded up on a little bit of storm insuranceahead of the weekend. Their fear, whether warranted or not, is thatthe market will spike higher Monday morning on the news that a fullscale hurricane is bearing down on gas production assets in theGulf of Mexico. And while it seemed a very unlikely event as ofpress time Friday, it was enough to promote the September contractup 3 cents to $4.436 in a very quiet session.

After trading within an extremely tight, 3.5-cent range for mostof yesterday’s session, natural gas futures were lifted by a waveof buying that hit the market literally seconds after the AmericanGas Association released one of its most bullish storage reports sofar this injection season.

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but on Friday, Cross Bay Pipeline Co. LLC of Houston fulfilled a two-year plus dream by filing an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to increase natural gas deliveries into the New York City metropolitan area by 125,000 Dth/d. The proposed project now has an in-service date of Dec. 1, 2002.

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but on Friday, CrossBay Pipeline Co. LLC of Houston fulfilled a two-year plus dream byfiling an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionto increase natural gas deliveries into the New York Citymetropolitan area by 125,000 Dth/d. The proposed project now has atargeted in-service date of Dec. 1, 2002.

A little more than a year after NiSource started its pursuit of Columbia Energy Group, the merger is nearing completion. Seven out of nine states have completed the necessary regulatory actions, and the proposed union is on the docket for a vote at FERC’s next regular meeting, Wednesday, July 12.

A little more than a year after NiSource started its pursuit of Columbia Energy Group, the merger is nearing completion. Seven out of nine states have completed the necessary regulatory actions, and the proposed union is on the docket for a vote at FERC’s next regular meeting, Wednesday, July 12, (see Daily GPI, June 8, 1999).

Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore’s proposed long-termenergy policy has elicited a ho-hum response from independent oiland natural gas producers, who contend it “falls far short” oninitiatives needed to boost domestic energy production.

Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore’s proposed long-termenergy policy has elicited a ho-hum response from independent oiland natural gas producers, who contend it “falls far short” oninitiatives needed to boost domestic energy production.