News

A group of producers and marketers said it backs the “general[policy] objectives” on offshore regulation that were espoused byEnergy Secretary Bill Richardson in a letter to FERC last month,but stresses that debate over the “key issue” of the jurisdictionalstatus of offshore natural gas pipelines involves “a legal, not apolicy” matter.

Seeking to accommodate growth, Southern Energy Inc. will move toa new Atlanta office, with the Southern Company Energy Marketingunit relocating by December and the headquarters going a yearlater.

New Century Energies (NCE) and Northern States Power (NSP), twoefficiently-run but merely mid-sized combination utilities, joinedthe merger parade last week, promising savings, greaterefficiencies and economies of scale. But the horns on Wall Streetdidn’t toot.

Ocean Energy Inc. (OEI) announced two separate sales worth acombined $116 million and 164 Bcf of gas last week, as it carriedout a debt reduction plan aimed at preparing the company for itsmerger with Seagull Energy. OEI said shareholders for bothcompanies are holding special meetings March 30 to vote on themerger. If they vote in favor, the company will be officiallymerged that afternoon.

The futures market continued higher Friday, but it was notwithout a struggle when morning short-covering was followed by abrief, but spirited, long liquidation early in the afternoon.However, that dip in prices paved the way for another round of”bargain buying” as some fresh longs were seen entering the fray.And just as the case has been almost the entire week, it was bullsthat ended up on top Friday, with April finishing at $1.854, up 1.9cents for the day and 15.5 cents for the week.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) parent Unicom received about $1.76billion over book value last week in the largest divestiture yet ofa utility’s fossil-fueled power plants. Edison International’sindependent power subsidiary is buying 9,772 MW of ComEd’s coal-and gas-fired baseload and peaking plants for $5 billion.

The Delaware General Assembly passed legislation last week thatwill bring retail choice to the majority of the state’s electricitycustomers by October 2000 and to all of its power customers byApril 2001. The bill is expected to be signed into law by Gov.Thomas R. Carper next week.

East Tennessee Natural Gas, a unit of Houston-based El PasoEnergy, is holding an open season for incremental capacity alongits mainline in Tennessee and Virginia. The proposed expansionwould entail construction of mainline pipeline, compression andrelated facilities. Service is targeted to begin Nov. 1, 2000.

GPU Energy said settlement negotiations with parties involved inthe company’s stranded cost and unbundling case will continue as aregulatory deadline passed last week. “We have notified the NewJersey Board of Public Utilities that although we have not reacheda settlement at this time, we will continue the negotiationprocess,” said Mike Filippone, director of rates for New Jersey.