Market

Mobil Corp. and Duke Energy announced the signing of additionalmarket agreements with Canadian buyers on Friday for Sable Islandgas production, which is due to come on stream next November withthe completion of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline project.

The surge that has characterized cash trading activity this weekcontinued Wednesday but at a significantly slower pace, suggestingto some that prices had reached or were nearing peaks. The newupticks left most eastern points in the vicinity of October indexlevels, while markets in the West padded their already considerablestandings above indexes.

Illinova Energy Partners, one of the top-30 largest powermarketing operations in the nation, grabbed a foothold in theMichigan retail gas and power market with the purchase of EMC GasTransmission Co. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

For the first time in several trading days, there was nodivergence between Eastern and Western market directions Wednesday.It was up, up and away all around as nearly all points registeredgains of around a dime or higher.

A supply/demand forecast released by Nova Corp. confirms whatmany market observers have expected: Canadian gas producers will behard pressed to fill all the new transportation capacity coming online this winter and could find it even harder to fill storage andmeet demand next summer.

Overall the cash market Thursday decided one bearish storagereport in the hand was worth more than two tropical storms in thebush. But although nearly all points checked in as flat to downabout a nickel, sources said the softness probably would have beenquite a bit greater if it hadn’t been for September’s thirdstraight weekly storm threat to Gulf of Mexico production,especially in light of the screen’s nickel-plus drop.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco)has purchased the assets and operations of a Maryland-based gasretail marketing firm for an undisclosed amount. The transactiongives Pepco through its subsidiary, Pepco Services, the capabilityto offer for the first time natural gas to its commercial,institutional and industrial customers.

People that had been dismissing Tropical Storm Frances as barelya blip on the gas market’s radar screen Wednesday were paying muchcloser attention Thursday as production outages grew and cashprices went up in the neighborhood of a dime at nearly all points.Prices in areas not directly affected by the storm outages werebeing pulled up largely by the futures screen’s big jump, sourcessaid. Also, the AGA’s Wednesday afternoon report of a smallish 35Bcf in storage withdrawals last week helped set the stage for priceincreases everywhere, a Texas marketer said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals ManagementService (MMS) received more than $741.85 million in 486 bids duringthe Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale No. 171. Winning or high bidstotaled $553.4 million for 402 blocks.