Major

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), which represents thenation’s major gas producers, last week placed its president,Nicholas J. Bush, on administrative leave without pay in the wakeof an investigation and a subsequent lawsuit. The suit accuses himof fraud and misappropriating more than $2.4 million from the groupsince the late 1980s. The D.C. Superior Court, where the suit wasfiled, has issued a temporary restraining order against Bush andhas continued the case until Feb. 26 [Docket No. 1028-99].

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), which represents thenation’s major gas producers, earlier this week placed itspresident, Nicholas J. Bush, on administrative leave without pay inthe wake of an investigation and a subsequent civil lawsuitaccusing him of misappropriating more than $2 million from thegroup since the late 1980s. The D.C. Superior Court, where the suitwas filed, has issued a temporary restraining order against Bushand has continued the case until Feb. 26 [Docket No. 001028-99].

With weather forecasts producing bearish news at every turn andnational storage reserves looming ever larger, Raymond James &ampAssociates recently published a report projecting spot wellhead gasprices will drop below the $1.50/Mcf level before the beginning ofsummer. The study, however, also warns of a gas “price shock” inearly 2000, when gas shortages run rampant and production is unableto keep up because of sharp declines in exploration and productionspending. It seems the industry is in store for a spot marketroller coaster ride.

Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) earlier this week reached amajor settlement to auction off its power generation assets andflow back much of the profits to Maryland customers as part of itsplan to begin offering customer choice beginning July 2000.

Representatives of the major utility industries, natural gas,electricity and telecommunications, met in Houston this week tojointly address Y2K issues. Gary Gardner, chief information officerof the American Gas Association (AGA) cited interlocking activitiesas the basis for the meeting. For instance electricity powers manyof the pipeline compressor stations that keep the natural gasflowing. “Although gas companies have manual overrides that can beused in the event of an electrical power shortage or outage, fieldpersonnel posted at the compressor stations will rely ontelecommunications devices to communicate with their headquarters.

PP&L, Inc., a subsidiary of Allentown, PA-based PP&LResources, said it expects to sign an agreement to providewholesale electric power marketing, trading and risk-managementservices on a “round- the-clock” basis to Energy New England LLC,an energy cooperative organization formed to provide energy andrelated services to public power entities in New England. ENErepresents about 700 MW of peak load and 850 MW of energy supply.It is the largest wholesale aggregator of public power system loadand generation assets in the New England region.

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) and the CanadianAssociation of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) will sponsor a majorconference later this month to review the status of North Americangas supply and demand.

Pennzoil Co. and Quaker State Corp. completed a majorrestructuring designed to separate the companies’ automotivebusinesses from exploration and production operations. Therestructuring includes the spin-off of Pennzoil’s Products Groupand combines the marketing, manufacturing and fast oil changebusinesses of Pennzoil with all of Quaker State. The combinedcompany, Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. trades on the New York StockExchange with the symbol PZL.

PG&E Energy Services kicked off the new year with a bangyesterday by announcing it inked a major deal with Equity OfficeProperties Trust, the largest publicly held owner and manager ofoffice properties in the nation, to supply electricity to itsoffice buildings in northern California.