Mississippi

One of the most significant regulatory events at FERC in 1998went by practically unnoticed: the word “proposed” was put backinto the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), said CommissionerCurt Hebert Jr. in reflecting on his first full year at the agency.Commissioner Linda K. Breathitt, who also just ended her initialyear, agreed “proposed” took on a “stronger meaning” in a specificNOPR last year, but she hardly found it to be precedent-setting.

Samson Resources Co., of Tulsa has acquired a significant blockof producing oil and gas properties in Texas, Louisiana,Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. from Duer Wagner& Co. of Fort Worth. The purchase price was in excess of $40million. The properties are located in the same geographical areasas certain of Samson’s existing properties and include multipleopportunities for additional drilling and recompletions.

Mississippi River Transmission (MRT) may have jumped the gun abit when it proposed to hold auctions as part of a new method ofawarding capacity to shippers on its pipeline system. But thecompany said it shouldn’t be punished for coming up with the ideaprior to the release of FERC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking(NOPR), in which short-term capacity auctions are a major issue.

Chevron U.S.A. Production Co. announced the discovery of a largenew natural gas trend offshore Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexicothat could hold 1 Tcf of gross reserves. Chevron said the VioscaKnoll Carbonate Trend is unique to the Gulf in part because of itssize and because it’s the first offshore gas reserves to originatefrom Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. The Lower Cretaceous, however,has been productive onshore in Texas, Louisiana and in Mexico.