Making

Even though “bailout” has become a dirty word as Californiagovernment leaders in Sacramento hammer out more comprehensiveresponses to the state’s electricity woes, San Diego-based SempraEnergy’s CEO Stephen Baum says there is a light at the end of thetunnel.

Natural gas prices continued their roller coaster ride last weekwith changes in near- and long-term weather forecasts, and acolder-than-normal winter season which could lead to physicalshortages, according to Salomon Smith Barney’s weekly E&Pforecast. However, even though E&P shares declined 7% onaverage last week, there’s still plenty of gains to be had thisyear by both large and small players.

Making himself a domestic energy diplomat moving betweenmeetings in Washington, DC, and the West, Energy Secretary BillRichardson last week supported the need for a western regionalwholesale power price cap as he extended for another week hisearlier emergency order requiring generators and marketers to makepower available to the continuing tight California market to avoidthe threat of rolling blackouts. The order, which was first issuedon Dec. 14, expired Tuesday at midnight. The new order will remainin effect until Dec. 27, unless modified.

Chemical companies, forced to shut in operations because of high natural gas prices, are nevertheless making money — by selling gas futures contracts. Terra Industries and Mississippi Chemical Corp. became the latest companies to announce cutbacks and shutdowns related to current natural gas costs.

Chemical companies, forced to shut in operations because of highnatural gas prices, are nevertheless making money — by sellinggas futures contracts.

DTE Energy and MCN Energy said they are making progress with theFederal Trade Commission (FTC) on their proposed merger, but nowexpect the regulatory hold-up to delay completion of the mergerpast the end of the year. “While we are aggressively working toclose this deal in 2000, despite our efforts, as each day passes itappears less likely that this transaction will close by year-end,”said DTE CEO Anthony F. Earley. The FTC raised concerns aboutcogeneration load and other gas/electric displacement technologiesin the companies’ coincident retail distribution areas, but thecompanies have taken action to address the issue by agreeing tosell a portion of MCN’s gas distribution capacity to a unit ofExelon (previously Unicom). “The proposed capacity sale to a unitof Exelon created a framework for productive discussions with theFTC,” said Earley. “It is our view that we have narrowed thosediscussions to a few issues related to the Exelon agreement and Iam hopeful these can be resolved soon.” The capacity sale agreementis subject to Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) review. “Weexpect to work the regulatory reviews simultaneously and will seekapproval from the MPSC as progress is made with the FTC,” Earleysaid. In the meantime, the two companies continue to refine theirintegration plans to allow for a rapid integration of overlapfunctions. They expect to save $1 billion in corporate synergiesfollowing completion of the $4.6 billion merger (including debtassumption). DTE’s principal operating subsidiary is DetroitEdison, an electric utility serving 2.1 million customers inSoutheastern Michigan. MCN’s largest subsidiary is MichiganConsolidated Gas, a gas utility serving 1.2 million customersthroughout Michigan.

As an interim measure prior to California’s state-charteredelectric transmission grid operator (Cal-ISO) making longer-termchanges, its board of governors adopted by a 13-10 vote lastThursday a load differentiated price cap promoted by a consumeradvocate representative on the badly splintered stakeholder board.The action drew swift criticism from generators through theirWashington, DC-based association.

Dominion Resources expects gas price strength to continuethrough next year, but it is making a conservative forecast forrealized prices of about $3.20/Mcf, CEO Thos. E. Capps saidyesterday during a conference call on the company’s third quarterearnings. The company’s production remains about 50% hedged throughthe second quarter of next year.

Advancing its reputation as one of the more innovative pipelinesin the industry when it comes to rate making, Reliant Energy GasTransmission (REGT) submitted a rate filing with FERC that willgive customers an ‘in-kind’ balancing option. The plan is part ofto its Automatic Nomination Service (ANS), a ‘just-in-time’ supplymanagement service.