Nearly

Prices continued to fall almost across the board Friday, which was hardly surprising because a pattern of weak weather fundamentals remained in place, June futures dropped more than a nickel in their prompt-month debut, and gas demand typically goes down over a weekend period.

Alberta Energy’s Wild Goose Storage subsidiary in California is considering a major expansion that could nearly triple the size of its natural gas storage facility in Butte County, near Gridley, CA. The company has launched an open season for customer sign-ups that will run until May 22.

Alberta Energy’s Wild Goose Storage subsidiary in California is considering a major expansion that could nearly triple the size of its natural gas storage facility in Butte County, near Gridley, CA. The company has launched an open season for customer sign-ups that will run until May 22.

While the East looked around and, seeing nearly all appreciable weather load fading fast, decided to sit tight or retreat a bit price-wise Wednesday, most western points were soaring in a frenzy of buying. California and Rockies pipes saw spikes that often hit triple digits. Only flatness in the Pacific Northwest and at a couple of Permian Basin points, along with a downturn for intra-Alberta numbers, belied the overall western strength.

Despite numerous press conferences and a lot of hype from political leaders, the bulk of the nearly 10,000 MW in California’s long-term electricity deals still have not been nailed down in formal signed contracts. The agreements are suppose to provide up to 7,000 MW this year and up to 10,000 MW over next 10 years.

Winter was retaining a tougher post-season grip on severalregions’ weather than expected Tuesday, and the result waswidespread price rises that ranged from flat to barely higher atthe PG&E citygate and Rockies, to about a quarter at someNortheast and Pacific Northwest points. A sharply higher Aprilfutures contract also lent some support to cash on its penultimateday of trading, sources said.

With its acquisition of Calgary-based Berkley Petroleum Corp.completed, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it will increase its totalcapital spending plan for Canadian operations by 49% to US$386million, and will step up exploration and production there for thenext several years. The 2001 increase, up from the $259 millionfirst budgeted, doesn’t count the Berkley transaction, completedlast week (see Daily GPI, March 20).

Illustrating the tremendous demand growth that has nearly crippled California’s energy market, Kern River Gas Transmission announced a plan last week to more than double the amount of gas it transports to the state from Rocky Mountain region supply basins.

Illustrating the tremendous demand growth that has nearlycrippled California’s energy market, Kern River Gas Transmissionannounced a plan yesterday to more than double the amount of gas ittransports to the state from Rocky Mountain region supply basins.