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Deregulation is creating more opportunities for distributedgeneration than there have been since the 1920s, according toconsultant Frost &amp Sullivan. Although regulatory, technical,economic and environmental hurdles remain, deregulation hasprompted utilities and other energy providers to start offeringdistributed generation as a value-added service to retaincustomers. Also, some industrial and commercial customers arebuying generators to gain independence from electric providers.

A tropical depression formed quickly Tuesday afternoon from whathad appeared to be no more than a disorganized bunch ofthunderstorms in the morning. A storm warning was issued forpractically the entire coast of Texas (Brownsville to High Island).Although a mid-afternoon spot check of some larger producersindicated mostly a “keeping an eye on things” attitude rather thanactual platform evacuations, it was likely that tentative planswere turning into concrete action that evening.

Gulf producers battened down the hatches on hundreds ofplatforms yesterday, shut in more than 2.5 Bcf/d of gas andscrambled ashore as Tropical Storm Earl, which seemed to pop out ofnowhere Monday, rapidly gained strength and appeared likely tobecome the Gulf’s first hurricane by this morning. At 4 p.m.yesterday, the National Weather Service said hurricane warningswere in effect from Pascagoula, MS, to Cameron, LA. Hurricanewatches were in effect from east of Pascagoula to Destin, FL, andwest of Cameron to High Island, TX. Earl was centered near 27degrees north latitude and 93 degrees west longitude, moving northnortheast at 12 mph with 60 mph winds. The NWS said it expectedEarl to become a hurricane prior to landfall.

Florida’s electric utilities plan to add more than 10,580 MW ofnew generating capacity between now and 2007 to meet surgingdemand, the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council told thestate’s Public Service Commission.

Dynegy Inc. continued downsizing its field services operationsyesterday by signing an agreement to sell its 56% interest in the85 MMcf/d Roberts Ranch natural gas processing plant in MidlandCounty, TX, to Duke Energy Field Services, which operates two otherplants in Midland.

Weak gas processing margins prompted Mitchell Energy &Development to cut its natural gas liquids (NGL) production by morethan 20% – roughly 10,000 barrels/d. “With the collapse in thecrude oil market, gas processing margins are pretty ugly rightnow,” said George P. Mitchell, CEO. “NGLs have tracked the slide incrude prices due to weak demand and higher imports. Strong gasprices are adding to the squeeze in processing margins since makingup the volume shrinkage that occurs when we extract the liquids isa cost. With NGL inventories in the U.S. running at 10-year highs,we decided to cut back where it makes economic sense.

South Jersey Gas received approval from the New Jersey Board ofPublic Utilities to expand its residential transportation programallowing 12,500 more customers to select an independent natural gasmarketer. “Last year, 13,000 customers tested the uncharted watersof deregulation by signing up with an independent marketer,” saidCharles Biscieglia, president of South Jersey. “Finding ways tohelp our customers reduce energy costs is important to us andanything we can do to create a potential for savings is a positivestep.” Enrollment for the expanded program closes July 31, 1999.South Jersey serves 260,000 residential, commercial and industrialcustomers in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, and significantportions of Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties.

Hagler Bailly Inc. and Cap Gemini SA and subsidiary Cap GeminiAmerica Inc. formed a joint venture to deliver informationtechnology consulting services and solutions to electric, gas andwater utilities and service providers in the United States andCanada.

More than 70% of gas consumed could be bought from suppliersother than local distribution companies under current and proposedLDC transportation programs, according to the American GasAssociation (AGA). But the choice option still is heavily weightedtoward large customers.