March

Florida Gas Transmission lifted Thursday an Overage Alert Daynotice (see Daily GPI, March30). However, a weekend pipe replacement project between Stations12 and 13 in north-central Florida will limit market area deliveriesto 1.15-1.25 Bcf/d, down from the normal 1.4 Bcf/d. Thus the pipelineis reinstating the OAD notice for today through Sunday. The tolerancefor negative daily imbalances will be 6% today and tighten to 4%Saturday and Sunday.

Tennessee delayed pigging operations on the Blue Water System,originally scheduled for Monday and today (see Daily GPI, March 6), tentatively until Thursday andFriday of this week. No service restrictions are expected, butproducers may experience higher than normal pressures.

Cove Point LNG LP, a subsidiary of Herndon, VA-based ColumbiaEnergy Group, is holding an open season through March 16 for a firmLNG tanker discharging service at its Cove Point LNG terminal. Thenew service will include the unloading of LNG from tankers, LNGstorage, vaporization, and delivery of gas to points along CovePoint’s existing pipeline.

Cove Point LNG Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Herndon,VA-based Columbia Energy Group, is holding an open season throughMarch 16 for a firm LNG tanker discharging service at its CovePoint LNG terminal. The new service will include the unloading ofLNG from tankers, LNG storage, vaporization, and delivery of gas topoints along Cove Point’s existing pipeline.

The New York Mercantile Exchange’s (Nymex) natural gas pitprobably will be a lot more active on Wednesdays, starting March 1.The exchange, along with several major market players, hasconvinced the American Gas Association to move up by two hours therelease of its influential gas storage report.

Sonat’s proposed $82 million rate hike hit a snag last week, asFERC suspended any increase from occurring until March 1 and calledfor a hearing where opposition to the proposal can presentinformation.

Petroleum Development Corp. of Bridgeport, WV, said it haslocked in November to March prices at an average of about$2.95/MMBtu based on NYMEX futures quotes that have reached “thehighest average price we’ve seen for any winter in the past 10years.”

Petroleum Development Corp. of Bridgeport, WVA, said it haslocked in November to March prices at an average of about$2.95/MMBtu based on NYMEX futures quotes that have reached “thehighest average price we’ve seen for any winter in the past 10years.”

The $1.9 billion sale in March of Panhandle Eastern Pipe Lineand Trunkline Gas to Michigan-based CMS Energy resulted in aone-time gain of $1.82 per share for the first quarter and anafter-tax gain of $660 million, putting Duke earnings for thequarter over results in the same quarter last year. Duke reportedearnings of $2.65 per share, compared with 87 cents in 1Q98.Without the sale, and the absence of an extraordinary item fromlast year’s quarter, basic first-quarter earnings were 83 cents pershare versus 89 cents last year.