Northern

On the heels of last week’s power outages in the northern partsof the state, Southern California Gas Monday stepped up its push ofnatural gas-fired micro-turbines for small and medium-sizebusinesses as an alternative to grid-dependent electrical supplies.

Someone pulled the plug on gas futures yesterday, but there’sstill plenty of water left in the tub. The July contract plunged42.5 cents but remained above $4 at $4.063.

NRG Energy Inc.pulled off a respectable first day on the New York Stock Exchange, asthe independent power subsidiary of Northern States Power saw itsinitial public offering (IPO) close well above its set price of$15. NRG opened at $15.88 and closed the day at $16.63 on a volume of8.1 million shares.

NRG Energy Inc., a Minneapolis-based wholly owned subsidiary ofNorthern States Power Co., is going public and filed for anoffering of 18% of its common stock. The maximum aggregate offeringprice of the offer is $600 million. All proceeds will remain withNRG Energy.

Thanks to impending colder weather in the major northern marketareas along with some extra boost from a rising screen, overallcash prices ranged from flat to about a nickel higher Thursday,with increases of 3-6 cents tending to occur most frequently.

Florida Gas Transmission rescheduled maintenance betweenStations 12 and 13 in northern Florida for April 1-2. The project,which will limit market area deliveries to about 1.15-1.25 Bcf/d,will replace 120 feet of 36-inch pipe under Highway 331. Itoriginally had been planned for last Christmas Day but waspostponed due to colder weather in the market area (see Daily GPI,Dec. 23, 1999).

Northern Natural Gas completed repairs and restored serviceWednesday after damage by a third party caused a force majeuresituation Tuesday on its East Leg. Line pressure was reduced andservice was curtailed temporarily downstream of Belleville(Lafayette County, WI).

Tennessee expects its 300 Line in northern Pennsylvania to returnto service today following completion of repairs to Sunday morning’srupture (see Daily GPI, Feb. 29). Unlessconditions change, the pipeline will accept intra-day Cycle 1nomination increases beginning at 5 p.m. CST for all meters downstreamof Main Line Valve 314.

Tennessee anticipates completing repairs of a rupture nearHebron Center in northern Pennsylvania around 9 p.m. EST Wednesdayand will accept Cycle 2 nomination increases then if the repairsare finished. Sunday morning’s rupture on the 300 Line is causingrestrictions through Secondary services downstream of Main LineValve 314.