Massive

A PG&E Corp. subsidiary broke ground yesterday on itsmassive La Paloma gas-fired power plant. The 1,048 MW generatingfacility will burn about 150 MMcf/d of gas and will be connected tothe Kern-Mojave Pipeline about 40 miles west of Bakersfield. Itwill be the largest merchant power plant in the state and isexpected to begin operations in summer 2001.

If current bullish projections for adding another 5 Tcf of gasdemand nationally over the next 10 years is going to become areality, the pace of merchant power plant development will have toaccelerate and the gas business will have to catch up with it,according to a panel of experts at GasMart/Power 2000 in Denverlast week.

If current bullish projections for adding another 6 Tcf of gasdemand nationally over the next 10 years is going to become areality, the pace of merchant power plant development will have toaccelerate and the gas business will have to catch up with it,according to a Duke Energy executive speaking at GasMart/Power 2000yesterday in Denver. Brad Porlier, vice president for businessdevelopment at Duke Energy North America, said he’s unsure that thecurrent gas industry can meet the challenge, assuming merchantdevelopment can overcome a growing list of hurdles from siting topolitical issues.

Phillips subsidiary GPM Gas Corp. and a number of other NorthernNatural shippers are befuddled by a complex negotiated ratetransaction between Northern Natural and its affiliate Enron NorthAmerica Corp. that covers 295,000 MMBtu/d of firm transportationspace, or about one-third of Northern’s pipeline capacity. Thecontract was filed at FERC on Oct. 29 (Docket No. RP96-272). GPMhas filed a protest and request for technical conference with FERCon the matter, saying the transaction is large, complex and maydiscriminate against other shippers.

Despite recently proposing a massive $15 billion merger ofequals between Commonwealth Edison parent Unicom and Peco Energy,Unicom CEO John W. Rowe still has an appetite for growth. Hebelieves the combined company would need to get bigger in certainareas to remain competitive.

Despite recently proposing a massive $15 billion merger ofequals between Commonwealth Edison parent Unicom and Peco Energy,Unicom CEO John W. Rowe still has an appetite for growth. Hebelieves the combined company still needs to get bigger in certainareas to remain competitive.

Led by what one New York local trader called “massive shortcovering,” the futures market erupted 27.1 cents higher yesterdayin a rally that left many market participants incredulous. Comingon the heels of fresh storage data and subsequent gains in Accesstrading Wednesday, the October contract gapped higher at the openyesterday and never looked back, finishing at $2.697.

The state of New Jersey, scene of a massive natural gas pipeline explosion five years ago, has launched an attack on Transco’s MarketLink project — which had no connection with the blast — demanding more stringent safety requirements on interstate pipelines and additional proof there is a need for added pipeline capacity.

The state of New Jersey, scene of a massive natural gas pipelineexplosion five years ago, has launched an attack on Transco’sMarketLink project – which had no connection with the blast -demanding more stringent safety requirements on interstatepipelines and additional proof there is a need for added pipelinecapacity.