Nationally

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.

Joining a sports marketing push that is picking up momentumamong energy companies nationally, Sempra Energy has inked acombination energy services and promotional deal with the operatorsof a new basketball-hockey arena being built in downtown LosAngeles. Sempra’s CEO indicated this was just the first of a seriesof “major branding initiatives” the newly formed San Diego-basedutility holding company will be rolling out over the next 12months.